Pan-European savings and retirement services group Athora is set to acquire the UK-based pension risk transfer specialist Pensions Insurance Corporation Group (PICG) for £5.7bn.
The transaction means that for the first time in its 20-year history, PICG will be held by a single strategic owner. PIC will become the UK insurance business of Athora and continue to operate under the PIC brand.
Athora has existing insurance businesses in the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Germany, and is backed by permanent capital owners, including a strategic minority investment by Apollo Global Management and Athene Holding Limited, and long-term institutional investors such as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
The takeover of PICG creates a total group with assets of over €130bn, backing the pensions of more than three million savers and retirees across Europe. PIC will represent 45% of Athora’s total assets under management and administration, and is expected to be the largest and fastest-growing business in the group.
PIC has a portfolio of £50.9bn backing the pensions of 400,000 people. The insurer has £30bn invested in the UK, of which £13.8bn is invested in UK housing and infrastructure.
PIC said that the acquisition reinforces its strategy of “providing very high customer service levels and increases its ability to invest in UK housing and infrastructure as Athora supports PIC through the next phase of its growth”. This, PIC said, will allow it to provide its best pricing across a larger number of pension risk transfer deals.
PICG’s current shareholders are Reinet, which holds 49.5% of the issued shares, a wholly owned subsidiary of ADIA, with 18.4% of the issued shares, funds managed by CVC Capital Partners, with 17.4%, and funds managed by HPS Investment Partners with 10.2%, as well as employees and other shareholders, who hold circa 4% of the issued shares.
The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in early 2026.
Tracy Blackwell, CEO of PIC, said: “PIC has had an amazing growth story over the past two decades and is now one of Britain’s preeminent pension businesses. This success has been based on a simple purpose, which is to pay the pensions of our current and future policyholders.
“Athora’s investment is validation of what we have always believed: that PIC’s reputation, strategy, fortress balance sheet, purpose, and most importantly our people combine to make this a unique business in a huge and growing market.”
Blackwell said that with Athora’s backing, PIC will be able to provide more options to the trustees of defined benefit pension schemes and invest more in UK housing and infrastructure.
She continued: “The pension risk transfer market is vital to the well-being of millions of UK pensioners and the allocation of tens of billions of pounds of investment into the UK’s economy.
“This acquisition and the potential for growth that it represents is the strongest possible recognition of the value and importance of the pension risk transfer market, the sector that PIC helped to create and continues to lead.”
Mike Wells, CEO of Athora, said: “We are delighted to have agreed this transaction. We have followed PIC’s progress for several years and been consistently impressed by the very high-quality business the PIC team has built.”
Wells said that as a UK subsidiary, PIC will be the “largest business” within the Athora Group, and Athora intends to invest in the business and its people to support that growth in the UK pension risk transfer market.
He said: “We have great confidence in the long-term strengths of the UK: its retirement market, regulatory and policy framework, and economic prospects.”
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Clinton Mora is a reporter for Trending Insurance News. He has previously worked for the Forbes. As a contributor to Trending Insurance News, Clinton covers emerging a wide range of property and casualty insurance related stories.