4imprint Group plc, (LON:FOUR), the leading direct marketer of promotional products, has provided an update on the further de-risking of the Group’s legacy defined benefit pension plan.
At the end of June 2023, the Trustee of the Plan, with the full support of the Group, entered into an agreement with Legal and General Assurance Society Limited to insure substantially all remaining pension benefits of the Plan through the purchase of a bulk annuity policy. This was an investment decision for the Plan, consistent with both the Trustee’s overriding objective to enhance the security of the benefits payable to members and the Group’s long-term commitment to the full de-risking of its legacy defined benefit pension obligations. The Trustee was advised by Mercer Limited and Arc Pensions Law.
The transaction took the form of a ‘buy-in’ arrangement, with the fair value of the bulk annuity policy matching the liabilities being insured, thus eliminating inflation, interest rate and longevity risks and removing volatility from the Group’s balance sheet. In order to crystallise the buy-in transaction in the current insurance market the Group agreed to accelerate most of the previously agreed schedule of recovery contributions due to end in September 2024, equating to a cash lump sum ‘top-up’ contribution to the Plan assets of approximately $4m, to be paid in early July 2023.
Further details regarding this pension buy-in transaction will be provided with 4imprint Group’s Half Year Results Announcement to be released on 9 August 2023.
