Eversheds Sutherland and Travers Smith have taken key roles on insurance firm Legal & General's £2.4bn buyout of the Nortel Networks UK Pension Plan, which covers 15,500 pensioner members and about 7,200 deferred members.

The plan has been in the UK's pensions protection scheme, the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), since Nortel fell into administration in 2009. The new deal comes amid recently resolved insolvency proceedings.

Eversheds advised Legal & General on the transaction, fielding a City team headed up by corporate insurance partner Hugo Laing with support from pensions partner Mark Latimour.

Laing said: "We are delighted to be part of this important transaction, helping our longstanding client Legal & General. It was a pleasure working collaboratively with the teams at Legal & General, KPMG and Travers Smith to ensure we successfully achieved the desired outcome for all parties.

"2018 has seen an unprecedented level of pension de-risking deals in the UK, and the Eversheds Sutherland's global insurance group in this area has gone from strength to strength having been involved in some of the largest and most complicated transactions in the UK, US and Ireland."

Eversheds worked closely with key team members at Legal & General including director of pension risk transfer Dominic Moret, new business actuary Rachel Cutts and head of legal Helena Hawthorn.

Travers, meanwhile, advised the plan's trustee, Nortel Networks UK Pensions Trust, with pensions partners Dan Naylor and Susie Daykin leading for the City firm.

Naylor said: "The trustee had a very clear objective of maximising the options and benefits available to members after a long period of uncertainty. Achieving that objective was extremely complicated and required innovative solutions. The outcome is something that the trustee can be very proud of and we are delighted to have contributed to the team effort required to deliver the project."

Daykin, who advised the Lehman trustees on their buyout, added: "It was great to advise on another major de-risking project, the largest ever PPF plus buyout. The transaction further demonstrates Travers Smith's credentials in relation to bespoke de-risking deals."

Last month, Clifford Chance (CC) picked up a role for Legal & General on the £4bn pension buyin of a British Airways (BA) scheme that covered historic pension liabilities for the airline company. Eversheds and Allen & Overy are advising the scheme's trustees.

CMS and Addleshaw Goddard are advising on a partnership between the investment arm of Legal & General and property company Bruntwood, which will create the largest science and technology property platform in the UK.