The firm has advised the Trustee of the James Neill Pension Plan and James Neill Holdings on the successful completion of a landmark Capital Backed Investment (CBI) transaction with Portunes Pension Capital, marking only the second such deal in the UK pensions market.
The transaction supports the Plan’s long-term funding objectives while allowing it to retain its existing investment strategy. Under the structure, the Plan and Portunes invest alongside one another over a defined period, with the Plan benefiting from a senior-ranking payout backed by external capital.
CBIs are an emerging innovation in the pensions sector, offering schemes access to external capital to reduce investment volatility and progress their long-term funding objectives. This approach illustrates how innovative structuring can deliver funding certainty while preserving flexibility over existing assets and investment positions.
We advised the Trustee and the Employer on all legal aspects of the transaction as part of a broader adviser team, which included Fieldfisher as legal adviser to Portunes, Gallagher as investment adviser to the Trustee and Schroders as investment manager. Additional advice was provided to the Trustee by Carey Olsen and to Portunes by Ogier.
The team was led by Clive Pugh, with support from Jack Gillions (Director) and Serena Kutty (Solicitor) from the Pensions and Lifetime Savings team.
