Eversheds steers £35m pension buy-in for the Royal Institute of British Architects with Pension Insurance Corp
Eversheds Sutherland has advised on a £35m ($46m) pension buy-in — a transaction in which an insurance company takes on the responsibility for paying a defined share of a pension scheme's liabilities in exchange for a premium — completed by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) with Pension Insurance Corp (PIC). The deal transfers longevity and investment risk associated with RIBA's retirement savings plan to PIC, one of the UK's specialist bulk annuity insurers. Buy-ins of this size are typically used by medium-sized occupational pension schemes seeking to de-risk their balance sheets ahead of a full buy-out — a complete transfer of all pension liabilities to an insurer — or as part of a structured journey plan towards scheme wind-up. The transaction reflects the continued boom in the UK bulk annuity (pension risk transfer) market, which has been operating at elevated volumes as corporate sponsors and trustees seek to lock in favourable funding positions following the interest rate rises of 2022-23, which dramatically improved defined benefit (DB) scheme funding levels. Pension Insurance Corp is one of the primary insurers in this market alongside Legal & General, Aviva, and others. Eversheds advised RIBA's trustees on the transaction (with Aon as lead adviser and Mercer providing actuarial and investment advice), while Addleshaw Goddard advised PIC.
Why this matters
The UK pension risk transfer market is one of the busiest practice areas in City pensions law, with buy-in and buy-out transaction volumes running at multi-year highs as improved funding levels prompt trustees to accelerate de-risking. A £35m buy-in for a professional body like RIBA is a mid-market transaction typical of the pipeline that keeps specialist pensions teams occupied across Magic Circle and Silver Circle firms. The legal workstream for advisers includes negotiating the insurance contract with PIC, satisfying trustee governance requirements, and managing the regulatory notification process under UK pensions legislation. The 'why now' trigger is the sustained improvement in DB scheme funding ratios following higher gilt yields, which has opened the insurance market to schemes that were previously too underfunded to transact.
On the Ground
A trainee on a pension buy-in matter would be coordinating local counsel instruction letters for any multi-jurisdiction elements of the scheme, preparing cross-border legal opinion summaries on the insurance contract's governing law, and maintaining a transaction checklist tracking trustee board approvals and regulatory filings.
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“What is the legal difference between a pension buy-in and a buy-out, and what are the key legal and regulatory steps a trustee board must complete before executing either transaction?”
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