In mixed news for the defined benefit pensions consolidation market:
- Clara Pensions (the only consolidator yet to be authorised by the Pensions Regulator) has announced its first deal – with the £590 million Sears Retail Scheme, while
- Edmund Truell’s Pension Superfund has withdrawn from the market.
Clara provides a “bridge to buyout”, so will not allow investors access to any profit until a scheme consolidated with Clara has bought out its liabilities successfully leaving surplus funds. By contrast, the Superfund proposed to merge all the schemes it (hoped to) consolidate and run the aggregate scheme indefinitely, allowing investors to extract profits in the meantime.