Britannic Group plc pension scheme has just completed a radical shift in its asset portfolio. It has moved out of equities and into bonds combined with long-dated swaps. The result is that changes in the schemes liabilities are directly matched by changes in asset values. While each company and pension scheme will have to weigh up the best solution to suit individual circumstances, changes brought about by the Britannic Group have enabled it to place future decision making over issues such as asset allocation into a much more coherent framework. The effect of the strategy is to cover 100% of the exposure of the liabilities with the underlying asset portfolio actively managed against a benchmark of 30% conventional gilts, 30% index-linked gilts and 40% corporate bonds.
