Posted on
12th March 2005 by
Brian Spence
The new Pensions Act was published 12 th February 2004 and received Royal Assent on 18 th November 2004. It extends to 325 sections and 13 schedules with more regulation and guidance to follow. It will begin to take effect from April 2005 and whilst the legal position of trustees remains unchanged the Act will define the role of a trustee more closely. The establishment of a new code of practice will provide a benchmark against which trustees can be judged. Trustees therefore need to understand that they each have a personal, non transferable liability and that ultimately the buck stops with them. Read more »
Posted in: Blog
Tags: Legislation, Pensions, Trusteeship
Posted on
3rd March 2005 by
Brian Spence
As illustrated by the failure of Philip Green’s bid for Marks & Spencer and Permira’s bid for WH Smith, the already complex process of negotiation that typify merger and acquisition activity has recently become that bit more complex as pension scheme trustees start to flex their new-found muscles to assume an integral role in determining the success or failure of a bid for the ownership of a company.
In the case of Mr Green’s bid for M&S, for example, a key determinant of its failure was the fact that trustees arrived at the conclusion that, with the company pension scheme having run up a substantial deficit, should Green’s bid be successful, M&S’s credit rating would fall. It would therefore be more highly geared and be considered by analysts to be a riskier business. Read more »
Posted in: Blog
Tags: Actuarial, Corporate, Pensions
