Canada Life completes third pension scheme buy-in with A.G. Barr worth £41m

Written by Adam Cadle

04/11/2025

Canada Life has completed a third pension scheme buy-in transaction worth £41m with drinks maker A.G. Barr, preserving the future benefits of 300 pension scheme members.

The beverage manufacturer, whose brands include IRN-BRU, Rubicon, FUNKIN and Boost, and the trustee board of the A.G. Barr (2008) Pension and Life Assurance Scheme have signed a third and final deal with Canada Life to cover the remaining 160 deferred members and 140 pensioners of the DB pension scheme.

This latest arrangement builds on an established collaboration between the scheme’s trustee, its adviser Hyman Robertson and the insurer Canada Life, which already covers approximately 40% of the scheme’s liabilities through earlier 2016 and 2018 buy-ins.

Hymans Robertson acted as the pension scheme broker, actuarial adviser, administrator and de-risking investment adviser. The trustee’s legal adviser was Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP. Canada Life was advised by in-house lawyers.

Commenting, Shreyas Sridhar, managing director for bulk purchase annuities at Canada Life, said: “The established working relationship had a positive influence on securing a good outcome for the scheme and its members.

“We are proud that the trustee chose to work exclusively with Canada Life on this bulk purchase annuities transaction as a result of the high bar we set ourselves in our client relationship management. Through our earlier deals with the A.G. Barr scheme, our team has invested time in understanding how the scheme operates and ‘bottled’ that knowledge.

“By monitoring market conditions and affordability with Canada Life, the trustee board was able to move quickly at the right time to execute the buy-in. We are grateful for the trust and collaboration of the trustee board and their advisers, which allowed us to deliver an outstanding outcome for the scheme and its members.”

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