Linklaters has advised the trustee of AkzoNobel Benefit Builder on a bulk transfer of assets to a Master Trust. The transaction to transfer a majority of the assets has recently completed, with a further phase to transfer the remaining assets expected to follow in the next year.

The transaction is intended to allow many present and former AkzoNobel employees to benefit from the economies of scale and additional flexibility that a Master Trust can offer. It reflects a growing trend in the pensions industry for employers and trustees of defined contribution occupational pension schemes to consider using Master Trusts as their preferred retirement savings vehicle for employees and scheme members.

The Linklaters team advising on the transaction was pensions partner, Rosalind Knowles, and managing associate, Alison Goudarzi.

The transfer is just one example of a number of similar transactions on which the firm’s pension practice has acted. For example, this has included advice to the trustee of the British American Tobacco UK Pension Fund on a bulk transfer to the Aegon Master Trust, to the trustee of the Rentokil Initial Pension Scheme on a bulk transfer to the Fidelity Master Trust and to One Stop Stores Trustee Services Limited on a bulk transfer to Legal & General WorkSave Mastertrust (RAS).