company sold

northernstar007

hi all can anyone advise what is happening
company i used to work for is now being sold to an american company
i have a db pension i am not claiming yet, will the conditions just carry on as normal

Stubod

Should do, pensions are normally managed by a completely seperate organisation. The original company I worked for closed down decades before I got my pension, and that started to be paid a couple of years ago...

Ayr_Rage

Nobody here can give you definitive information.

The pension trustees are the people to ask.

Notepad_Phil

northernstar007 said:

hi all can anyone advise what is happening
company i used to work for is now being sold to an american company
i have a db pension i am not claiming yet, will the conditions just carry on as normal

Only the pension trustees can say with any confidence about the contractual conditions of your pension, but if any of your pension is increased on a discretionary basis then in my experience you may find that future discretionary increases are reduced from what they may have historically been - though that perhaps may be just as much to do with the increased cost of DB pensions to an employer as it is to do with the company being taken over.

northernstar007

i am thinking of drawing it next year anyway (age 57) also increase is capped at cpi max of 5%
also reading on the company website there is an update being sent out in the post 
" The Trustee has already reached an agreement with ***** which will have a positive impact on the Scheme if the takeover goes ahead"

Shimrod

northernstar007 said:

i am thinking of drawing it next year anyway (age 57) also increase is capped at cpi max of 5%
also reading on the company website there is an update being sent out in the post 
" The Trustee has already reached an agreement with ***** which will have a positive impact on the Scheme if the takeover goes ahead"

It could be that the trustees have agreed a sufficient contribution in the pension scheme by the American company as part of the takeover that they can secure your benefits with an insurance company (buy out). I'm assuming the DB pension is closed to further accrual for this to take place.

Alternatively, they may have agreed an accelerated schedule of contributions to reduce any pension deficit quicker.

Having done a quick google, it sounds like this: https://www.printweek.com/content/news/atlas-tables-cash-offer-for-de-la-rue in which case it sounds closer to my latter suggestion, although possible only providing payment guarantees rather than additional sums.

northernstar007

Shimrod said:

northernstar007 said:

i am thinking of drawing it next year anyway (age 57) also increase is capped at cpi max of 5%
also reading on the company website there is an update being sent out in the post 
" The Trustee has already reached an agreement with ***** which will have a positive impact on the Scheme if the takeover goes ahead"

It could be that the trustees have agreed a sufficient contribution in the pension scheme by the American company as part of the takeover that they can secure your benefits with an insurance company (buy out). I'm assuming the DB pension is closed to further accrual for this to take place.

Alternatively, they may have agreed an accelerated schedule of contributions to reduce any pension deficit quicker.

Having done a quick google, it sounds like this: https://www.printweek.com/content/news/atlas-tables-cash-offer-for-de-la-rue in which case it sounds closer to my latter suggestion, although possible only providing payment guarantees rather than additional sums.

thanks for that shimrod, so would you say now my pension is safer than if the worst was to happen and go down the ppf road 
this is just for peace of mind than worrying for the next 12 months

Shimrod

northernstar007 said:

Shimrod said:

northernstar007 said:

i am thinking of drawing it next year anyway (age 57) also increase is capped at cpi max of 5%
also reading on the company website there is an update being sent out in the post 
" The Trustee has already reached an agreement with ***** which will have a positive impact on the Scheme if the takeover goes ahead"

It could be that the trustees have agreed a sufficient contribution in the pension scheme by the American company as part of the takeover that they can secure your benefits with an insurance company (buy out). I'm assuming the DB pension is closed to further accrual for this to take place.

Alternatively, they may have agreed an accelerated schedule of contributions to reduce any pension deficit quicker.

Having done a quick google, it sounds like this: https://www.printweek.com/content/news/atlas-tables-cash-offer-for-de-la-rue in which case it sounds closer to my latter suggestion, although possible only providing payment guarantees rather than additional sums.

thanks for that shimrod, so would you say now my pension is safer than if the worst was to happen and go down the ppf road 
this is just for peace of mind than worrying for the next 12 months

Assuming the sale goes through it sounds like it will be in a better place. You'll need to wait for the details from the pension trustee to see what has been agreed. When I've been involved in company sales previously, the trustee has been able to gain additional payments into the pension fund. It doesn't sound like the case here, but you need to see what form the guarantees take from Atlas.

Marcon

northernstar007 said:

thanks for that shimrod, so would you say now my pension is safer than if the worst was to happen and go down the ppf road 
this is just for peace of mind than worrying for the next 12 months

Nobody here can know until the deal has been finalised and the details made public, but the Pensions Regulator keeps a very close eye on anything which involves a company sale/purchase - ditto the trustees of a scheme in such a situation, who will be taking plenty of legal and actuarial advice.

A pension scheme would only be eligible for PPF entry if the employer suffers an insolvency event - and that's clearly not what is going on, judging by what you've said in your posts. Even then, PPF entry would only be permitted if the scheme couldn't offer benefits at least as good as those which would be provided by entering the PPF. Members who have taken early retirement don't qualify for the same level of protection as members who have already reached a scheme's normal retirement age, but even so, the protection offered is still pretty high.

One thing which is worth trying to establish is whether the early retirement factors are going to be reviewed and if so when. Unless they are enshrined in the Trust Deed & Rules (unusual but possible), they can always be changed and there is no requirement to pro-actively tell members.

northernstar007

will there be a possiblity my early withdrawl at 57 be adjusted such as i can take it 

Marcon

northernstar007 said:

will there be a possiblity my early withdrawl at 57 be adjusted such as i can take it 

I suspect you might mean can't take it?

Unless the rules of a scheme give a member an unqualified right to take a particular action, then it is always a 'possibility'. Assuming your scheme rules are the same as the majority of others (early retirement is possible with trustee and/or company consent, and with an appropriate reduction in the starting level of your pension), and allowing early retirements puts no strain on the fund, it isn't exactly a strong possibility.

You can torment yourself with any number of 'possibilities', but the likely reality is that nothing nasty will come to pass. Early retirement factors are routinely reviewed as a matter of course if they aren't enshrined in a scheme's rules, but that's nothing to do with the sale of the company, and is likely to be a matter for the trustees rather than the employer.