Regulator Allows UK Company To Walk Away From Its Pension Fund Deficit

A large UK company has managed to get the pension regulator’s nod to walk away from much of its 250 million defined benefit shortfall without going under or handing the burden off to the Pension Protection Fund. According to the BBC Radio 4’s Money Box, TH Global – formerly Kvaerner – will pay half of its deficit over a period of six years and attempt to fund the other half with an investment strategy mix that calls for putting a quarter of the investments into hedge funds and private equity. Pensions expert John Ralfe told BBC Radio that “[i]t looks like the first time the Pensions Regulator has allowed a company to walk away from its pension scheme without fully funding it.”