Marvin OnumonuAthora has agreed to buy Pension Insurance Corporation Group Limited (PICG), the parent company of Pension Insurance Corporation plc (PIC), for around £5.7bn.
This deal is set to make PIC the UK insurance business of Athora, which already has insurance operations in the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Germany.
Once complete, the group will have more than €130bn (£110bn) in assets, supporting pensions for over three million people across Europe.
PIC will account for 45% of Athora’s assets and will be its largest and fastest growing business.
Athora’s support is expected to help PIC grow and invest further in UK housing and infrastructure, and deliver more pension risk transfer deals.
The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close in early 2026.
Tracy Blackwell, CEO at PIC, said: “PIC has had an amazing growth story over the past two decades and is now one of Britain’s preeminent pension businesses.
“This success has been based on a simple purpose, which is to pay the pensions of our current and future policyholders.
“Athora’s investment is validation of what we have always believed: that PIC’s reputation, strategy, fortress balance sheet, purpose, and most importantly our people combine to make this a unique business in a huge and growing market.”
Blackwell added: “With Athora backing us through our next phase of growth as their UK insurance business, we will be able to provide more options to the trustees of defined benefit pension schemes and invest more in UK housing and infrastructure.
“The pension risk transfer market is vital to the wellbeing of millions of UK pensioners and the allocation of tens of billions of pounds of investment into the UK’s economy.
“This acquisition and the potential for growth that it represents is the strongest possible recognition of the value and importance of the pension risk transfer market, the sector that PIC helped to create and continues to lead.”
He said: “Finally, I want to thank our existing shareholders who have been absolutely brilliant in getting us to this point.
“I very much look to the next chapter in PIC’s story.”
Mike Wells, CEO at Athora, said: “We are delighted to have agreed this transaction. We have followed PIC’s progress for several years and been consistently impressed by the very high-quality business the PIC team has built.
“As our UK subsidiary, PIC will be the largest business within the Athora Group and we intend to invest in the business and its people to support that growth in the UK pension risk transfer market.
“We have great confidence in the long-term strengths of the UK: its retirement market, regulatory and policy framework, and economic prospects.”
Dillie Malherbe, director at Reinet Investments Manager, said: “We have been invested in PICG since 2012, and have helped oversee a 900% increase in the size of the business since then, by size of financial investments.
“What has consistently impressed me about PIC is that, despite that amazing growth trajectory, it has maintained a relentless focus on outcomes for its policyholders.
“I want to thank Tracy, our fellow shareholders, and everyone at PIC for all their efforts over the past 13 years.”
Hamad Shahwan Aldhaheri, executive director of the private equities department at ADIA, said: “As a shareholder in PICG since 2018, our investment supported the growth of the company as it strengthened its position as one of the leading players in the UK pension risk transfer market.
“Following this transaction, we will maintain exposure to the company via our existing shareholding in Athora, and believe that PIC has strong prospects for the future.
“We wish the company continued success as part of Athora.”
Peter Rutland, managing partner at CVC, said: “We are pleased to have utilised the longer duration capital of CVC’s Strategic Opportunities platform to partner with the team at PIC over the past eight years, during which time the company has scaled substantially and firmly established itself as a leading player in the UK pension insurance market.
“We wish the company every continued success under Athora’s ownership.”
