HSF and CC call the tune on EMI Group's £1.5bn pension fund sale
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and Clifford Chance (CC) have acted on the sale of EMI Group's £1.5bn pension fund to the Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), a deal which is thought to represent the UK's largest-ever pensions insurance buyout. The deal comes after Citigroup acquired music giant EMI from private equity group Terra Firma in 2011.
July 18, 2013 at 07:06 PM
2 minute read
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) and Clifford Chance (CC) have acted on the sale of EMI Group's £1.5bn pension fund to the Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), a deal which is thought to represent the UK's largest-ever pensions insurance buyout.
The deal comes after Citigroup acquired music giant EMI from private equity group Terra Firma in 2011.
Citi broke up EMI in 2012, selling off its back catalogue and record labels while retaining responsibility for the pension fund to make the package attractive to bidders.
HSF advised PIC, with a team led by pensions partners Samantha Brown and Roderick Morton. Partner Kristen Roberts advised on the financing aspects, with consultant Alison Matthews handling insurance issues.
Citi was advised by CC, which fielded a team led by pensions partner Hywel Robinson.
The transaction covers £1.5bn of liabilities and 20,000 members. It enables the trustee of the EMI Group Pension Fund to insure all its liabilities with PIC.
Sacker & Partners advised the fund's trustee.
Brown said "PIC is a longstanding client of ours. This was a market-leading transaction and was exciting because of the sheer size of it and the number of members involved."
Universal Music's £1.2bn acquisition of EMI was approved by the European Commission last September, in a deal which saw SJ Berwin take the lead role for Universal and CC advise EMI and Citi. The EC accepted the takeover bid on the condition that Universal sold around 60% of EMI's European assets.
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