Getting a buy-out and wind-up project back on track

The trustee of a c£150m full bought-in scheme working towards buy-out and wind-up approached us for help after the project had experienced delays and missed several key milestones. 

Background

The project faced several challenges, and had fallen behind schedule as a result. The issues included:

• GMP equalisation had not yet been implemented.
• The third-party administrator was operating with limited capacity and struggling to deliver to agreed deadlines, making the insurer nervous.
• The application of surplus funds still needed to be addressed.
• The scheduled date for transfer of administration was at risk and timing of buy-out was uncertain.
• There were wider matters to consider, including the implications of the Virgin Media judgement.

Our approach

One of our specialist post-transaction project managers worked collaboratively with the trustee, existing advisers and insurer to reassess priorities and develop a comprehensive project plan for all parties. This included a number of project planning sessions with all advisers - drawing on our extensive experience of other similar projects to focus on critical path activities. We also supported the trustee to ensure that all advisers were devoting sufficient resources and personnel with the requisite experience to deliver this specialist work.

Our post-transaction team dedicates significant resource in maintaining strong relationships with all the insurers, enabling a good understanding of their processes and approach. We were able to leverage our strong relationships with the insurers and detailed knowledge of their processes to secure the insurer’s agreement to implement GMP equalisation for the trustee at the point of buy-out, enabling an earlier timing for buy-out.

This reduced the immediate demand on the existing administrator's resources, so we were able to help them focus on tasks critical to making progress towards buy-out and wind-up.

With a clear path to buy-out, work needed on the application of surplus and complex considerations around Virgin Media could be aligned with the new project plan.

The outcome

The project regained momentum as a result of our leadership and specialist support, with existing advisers focussed on the correct priorities.

The administration transition, GMP equalisation implementation and buy-out were completed as planned, and members have received their individual annuity policies from the insurers.

Consistent delivery to intermediate milestones gave confidence to key stakeholders at the trustee and sponsoring employer, letting them focus on strategic issues and key decisions. A clear roadmap is in place for the final steps required to wind-up the scheme.