Life assurer Friends Provident has insured about ã350m (â¬439m) of its approximately ã1bn pension liabilities with Norwich Union, while continuing to pay its pensioners directly, in what is the first "buy-in" of a FTSE100 company's retirement scheme.
The deal also marks the second transfer of a FTSE100 company's pension liabilities to a specialist pension insurer and also Norwich Union's first major deal of this kind.
