Smiths Group agrees pension scheme deal with Canada Life

Engineer Smiths Group has agreed a deal to insure £207m of its pension scheme with insurer Canada Life under a buy-in bulk annuity agreement.

As part of the deal, Canada Life will take on some of the pension scheme risk, which remains with the company.

Smiths said that through a series of buy-ins, around £0.5bn of the Smiths Industries pension scheme liabilities has now been insured. Across the group’s two main UK schemes, around £1.5bn of the liabilities has now been insured.

Chief financial officer Bill Seeger said: "Our sustained focus, over many years, on de-risking the company's pension liabilities has reduced volatility and has led to significantly lower funding obligations going forward - freeing up capital for Smiths to invest in growth opportunities. Over 95% of the group's total pension liabilities are hedged through our liability driven investment strategy."