By Adriano Marchese

 

Walmart Inc.'s (WMT) Asda Group Ltd. said Friday that it has agreed a 3.8 billion-pound ($4.88 billion) bulk annuity insurance buy-in with Rothesay Life PLC.

The scheme's buy-in has been secured in anticipation of a full buy out of the scheme and will be enabled by a one-off final pension contribution from Asda of approximately GBP800 million, it said.

Following the buy in, the scheme's approximately 12,300 members will be provided with individual annuity policies issued by Rothesay Life, who will then be responsible for paying members' benefits in full.

At the time of the completion of the buy out, Walmart will recognize a pretax charge to earnings of approximately $2.2 billion.

"This transaction is good news for members of the scheme, simplifies the Asda balance sheet and will transfer our pension liabilities at a competitive price," Executive Vice-President and CFO of Walmart International Richard Mayfield said.

 

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 18, 2019 10:29 ET (14:29 GMT)

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