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PensionsAugust 7, 2025

National Grid Completes Third Pension Risk Transfer via Rothesay

The $1.2 billion annuity buy-in, the third in five years conducted by the pension and insurer, will cover 7,130 uninsured scheme members.

By Matt Toledo and Michael Katz

The National Grid U.K. Pension Scheme completed a 900-million-pound ($1.2 billion) risk transfer transaction via a buy-in from U.K. insurance provider Rothesay Life PLC that will cover 7,130 uninsured members of the pension plan, according to a Tuesday announcement from Rothesay.

The transaction is National Grid’s third, having previously de-risked 2.8 billion pounds of liabilities in 2019 and 800 million pounds in 2020, both with Rothesay.

“We carefully designed this transaction to meet the objectives of the Trustee and National Grid, and Rothesay provided the level of flexibility needed to meet the Scheme’s requirements,” said Mike Edwards, a partner in Aon PLC’s risk settlement group and the lead risk transfer adviser on the transaction, in a statement. “It is a competitive de-risking market for both schemes and insurers right now and to achieve such a positive outcome via an innovative transaction required a high degree of collaboration between all parties.”

Before the transaction, National Grid U.K. reported having 26,000 active, deferred, pensioner and dependent members. The scheme closed to new members in 2002.

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The National Grid transaction was the fourth buy-in in four months closed by Rothesay. In June, Rothesay completed a 20-million pound buy-in with the pension plan of Odeon Cinemas Group’s subsidiary, ABC Cinemas. In May, it completed a 120-million-pound buy-in with the AQA Pension Scheme, a nonprofit charity and examination board. In April, Rothesay completed a 105-million-pound buy-in with the Skipton Building Society Group Pension Scheme, sponsored by the U.K.’s fourth-largest building society.

Rothesay is one of the largest pension insurance specialists in the U.K. The insurer manages more than 70 billion pounds in assets, covering more than 1 million beneficiaries.

Annika Kim Named Credit Director at TMRS

Kim joins the pension fund from Apollo Global Management, where she was a private equity associate.

By Matt Toledo

Annika Kim

Texas Municipal Retirement System CIO Yup Kim announced the appointment of Annika Kim as credit director at the $44 billion, Austin, Texas-based pension fund. Annika Kim was previously a private equity senior associate at Apollo Global Management.

“As CIO, few things are more rewarding than welcoming rare, exceptional and mission-driven talent like Annika—whose character, intellect and leadership represent the very best of our industry—to our shared vision of building the model public pension plan,” Yup Kim wrote in a LinkedIn post.

Prior to Apollo, Annika Kim was an associate at the Carlyle Group and was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s degree in finance from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“She will play a pivotal role in shaping our credit and hybrid equity strategies and lead key initiatives within the Office of the CIO,” Yup Kim wrote.

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The pension fund, under Yup Kim, has added several people to oversee alternative investments. In August 2024, the fund appointed Phillip Hunter O’Brien, Amol Deshpande and Isidora Stankovic as head of private equity, head of direct investments and director of private equity, respectively.

In February, Eugene Han was named portfolio manager for direct investment; in April, John Ritter joined as managing director of real assets; and in July, Yuri Lee was named head of venture capital.

The fund allocates 34% of its portfolio to global equity, 25% to credit investments, 20% to real assets, 15% to private equity, 4% to tactical opportunities and 2% to a cash composite.

TMRS provides retirement benefits for municipal employes in Texas. The fund has more than 220,000 members across nearly 950 cities.