A Landmark Transaction For Superfunds

Suzanne Vaughan shares some of her key takeaways from her experience of leading a scheme through the first ever superfund transaction.

Innovation is never far from the de-risking market

2023 was yet another year of de-risking industry firsts, with WTW leading the first ever superfund transaction between Clara-Pensions ("Clara") and Sears Retail Pension Scheme. While the pension trade press, and many mainstream media outlets, lit up at the announcement evidencing the launch of another viable de-risking avenue for UK defined benefit pension schemes, it was of course the fruition of many years' investment, development and hard work for those involved – particularly the team at Clara for whom this first deal must have felt a long time coming, having first launched over six years ago.