Buyouts for company pension schemes to hit £10bn
The value of buyouts for company pension schemes will soar to £10 billion this year, as more and more companies turn to the practice, according to a new report. Actuaries Lane Clark and Peacock (LCP) forecast that at least ten FTSE 100 companies as well as a host of non-listed companies will sell off their schemes this year. LCP said: "The market for transferring pension scheme risk to an insurance company has accelerated sharply over the past six months and is expected to grow rapidly from here. "The pension buyout market in 2008 will exceed £10 billion, achieving a fourfold increase on 2007 volumes." Analysts attribute the growth in the number of companies opting to transfer their pension scheme to an insurer to the introduction of more stringent regulations and proposed accounting changes. These could compel companies to inject the pension schemes will billions of pounds extra.
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