Pinsent Masons advises Canada Life on the acquisition of £875M annuity business from Equitable Life

04 Mar 2015 | 02:44 pm |

International law firm Pinsent Masons has advised Canada Life Limited on the acquisition of Equitable Life’s £875m non-profit annuity business.

The transaction, announced by the parties on 3 March 2015, involves the reassurance of the liabilities with effect from 1 January 2015 and will be followed by a transfer of the annuity policies by way of a court-approved insurance business transfer under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

The Pinsent Masons multi-disciplinary team advising Canada Life was led by Insurance partner Bruno Geiringer, with assistance principally from John Christian (Partner, Tax), Tony Anderson (Partner, Banking), Raj Sharma (Partner, Pensions), Jon Fisher (Partner, Employment), Samantha Livesey (Partner, Commercial) and Rosie Macadie (Solicitor, Commercial).

Commenting on the transaction, Bruno Geiringer said:

“It is a pleasure to work with the Canada Life project team and the in-house lawyers, led by Head of Legal Kelvan Swinnerton and Melissa Catalano from the parent company in Toronto.  We are delighted to be able to assist Canada Life execute this deal which further strengthens its market leading position as a provider of competitive annuity products.  We anticipate there will be more acquisitions of non-core annuity businesses in the UK in light of the fall in sales of individually underwritten annuities following the Chancellor’s pensions reforms.”

Latest press releases

Show me all press releases

Pinsent Masons advises DCC Energy on the acquisition of WIRSOL Roof Solutions

Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has advised DCC Energy, a division of leading international sales, marketing and support services group DCC plc, on the acquisition of WIRSOL Roof Solutions (WIRSOL), a provider of photovoltaic (PV) and battery storage systems.

Pinsent Masons advises M Group Services on its buyout by CVC

Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has advised M Group Services, the leading provider of essential infrastructure services in the UK and Ireland, on its sale to private equity house CVC.

Pinsent Masons lawyers appointed to the ICC International Court of Arbitration

Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons’ partner Sylvia Tonova and senior associate Chloé De Jager have been appointed as Members of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, as representatives for Bulgaria and South Africa respectively. Both new appointments are for a three-year term set to commence on 1 July 2024.

People who viewed this press release also viewed

Show me all press releases

Pinsent Masons promotes 22 to its partnership

Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has boosted its global professional services capabilities with the promotion of 22 new partners.

Pinsent Masons hires senior litigation and investigations partner Melanie Ryan in London

Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has appointed litigation partner Melanie Ryan to join its Global Investigations team in London.

Pinsent Masons hires senior finance partner Nick Tostivin to lead its Finance team in London

Multinational law firm Pinsent Masons has appointed partner Nick Tostivin to join its rapidly expanding financial services team in London, where he will lead the Finance team.

For all media enquiries, including arranging an interview with one of our spokespeople, please contact the press office on

+44 (0)20 7418 8199 or 

Location contacts

We are processing your request. \n Thank you for your patience. An error occurred. This could be due to inactivity on the page - please try again.