Advisory firm Cardano has launched a dedicated risk settlement advisory service for pension schemes considering a buy-in or buyout transaction.
To support this new offering the consultancy has appointed Frankie Borrell, Andreas Vermeiren and Aman Ruparelia to Cardano Advisory.
Borrell joins as head of risk settlement. He spent the previous 11 years working at three bulk annuity providers. Most recently he led the client solutions team within Legal & General’s pension risk transfer (PRT) team.
Vermeiren joins as a director from insurer Standard Life, where he had responsibility for the end-to-end investment process for bulk annuities. He has been involved in the transfer of £10bn of pension liabilities through buy-ins and buyouts. He has the wide-ranging expertise to deliver integrated de-risking investment advice across areas such hedging insurer pricing, illiquid asset management and in-specie asset transfers.
Ruparelia joins as an analyst from LCP where he advised trustees on end-game solutions, including project managing pension scheme buy-ins ranging from £10m to £1bn.
Borrell said: “This is a really exciting and interesting time for the de-risking market and one that presents a great deal of opportunity for trustees. Where buyout is the right choice, then trustees can rely on us to deliver recent and in-depth insurer side expertise that will maximise success as they prepare for and then engage in a buyout transaction process.”
Adolfo Aponte, managing director leading Cardano Advisory’s risk solutions team, said: “In a busy insurance market, pension schemes that have set their eyes on an annuity policy, will need specialist negotiators that understand what will get them to the front of a queue and deliver the best possible transaction.”
He added that there is also more choice than ever before to manage pension scheme risk. “Scheme advisers need to be able to robustly challenge the de-risking solutions available and this is exactly what Cardano will deliver.”
Cardano said the buy-in and buyout brokering service will be available for pension schemes of any size.
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