Specialist insurer PIC buys out House of Fraser pensions scheme for £600m
Specialist insurer Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) bought out the House of Fraser pensions scheme, in a deal worth £600m, following the department store chain’s collapse in 2018.
The British insurer will take over control of the pension scheme, which was formed in 2013, for ex who worked at House of Fraser, and its two subsidiaries Jenners and Beatties, following department store chain’s acquisition of the Edinburgh and Midlands shops in 2005.
The deal will see PIC made responsible for paying the pensions of 5,050 current pensioners and 3,850 others, after House of Fraser collapsed into bankruptcy, and was later bought by Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct in 2018.
Ownership over the pension scheme will be transferred from the UK’s government created Pension Protection Fund (PPF) onto PIC, after trustees decided the buyout would result in the “best outcome” for members.
Steve Sargent, chairman of the scheme, said the buyout will see members “receive higher benefits than they would have under the PPF,” as he suggested the deal will “provide thousands of members with certainty and long-term security.”