Rothesay Life and Prudential appeal against High Court block on £12 billion bulk annuity deal

Written by David Adams

30/09/2019

Rothesay Life and Prudential have confirmed they will appeal against the UK High Court’s decision to block a £12 billion annuity transfer deal that would have involved 400,000 pension scheme members.

The block on the deal was announced in August, when a judge ruled that Rothesay did not possess the characteristics that policyholders would have been drawn to when selecting Prudential as their annuity provider. Some Prudential policyholders had appeared at the High Court hearing in June to make this argument, arguing that they had not been told such a change might ever be made.

In a statement announcing the appeal, Rothesay Life said the judgment “contains material errors of law”. The case is not expected to be heard until next year. It may eventually have broader implications for the bulk annuity market, in which Rothesay has been highly active, announcing two multi-billon pound deals just last week, with telecoms firm telent and Allied Domecq, worth £4.7 billion and £3.8 billion respectively.

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