The Trustee of the Wolseley Group Retirement Benefits Plan (the Plan) today announces the successful completion of a £600 million investment in a bulk purchase annuity buy-in with Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited (Aviva). Finalised in September 2025, the investment enhances the security of the benefits of nearly 10,000 members.
As Trustee, we have been working together with Ferguson (the Company) to maintain the Plan’s strong financial position and look at steps we can take to increase certainty for Plan members, the Trustee and the Company and further strengthen benefit security. This step means members are less reliant on both investment decisions made by the Trustee and the long-term success of the Company.
After the Trustee took specialist legal and pensions advice from CMS and Aon, who acted as the lead transaction adviser, we completed this buy-in investment with Aviva to secure the Plan’s remaining un-insured defined benefits. To secure the purchase of the buy-in policy, the Company made a contribution of £41 million in addition to the Plan’s assets. The Company was advised by LCP and Freshfields.
Wayne Phelan, Chair of the Plan Trustee and Chief Executive Officer at Vidett, added:
“This is an important milestone for the Plan and an extremely positive development for members. As Trustee, we’re there to make sure Plan members receive the benefits they’ve earned. We have been working closely with the Company, advisers and Aviva to achieve this extra security for members, which would not have been possible now without the Company’s commitment and additional financial support.”
Julia Mattison, UK Finance Director at Ferguson, said:
“Ferguson is proud to have supported the Plan Trustee in achieving this significant buy-in with Aviva. This transaction demonstrates our ongoing commitment to protecting the security of member benefits for the future. We are grateful for the collaboration between the Company, Trustee and all advisers during this complex process.”
Hannah Brinton, Partner at Aon, said:
“We were delighted to partner with the Trustees, including Vidett, and Ferguson on this complex transaction. A highly competitive auction process, and careful management of illiquid asset sales, ultimately led to a great outcome for all parties and importantly members of the Plan. This further underpins that there continues to be opportunities in the insurance market for well positioned schemes.”
Sarah Cave, Senior Deal Manager at Aviva, said:
“It’s been a pleasure to work with the Trustee and its advisers to provide long-term security for members of the Plan through this significant buy-in transaction. This milestone reflects the strength of collaboration between all parties and the shared commitment to delivering robust member outcomes.”
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About Vidett
Vidett is a leading independent trustee and pension governance business with a team of 145 accredited professional trustees, scheme secretaries and pension governance experts. Vidett acts for over 475 defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pension schemes, healthcare trusts and group life and excepted life assurance arrangements. The firm offers a full range of services, including independent trusteeship, scheme secretarial and trustee executive, governance consulting, outsourced pensions management, adviser reviews, communications, project support and interim resourcing.
About Aviva
- We are the UK’s leading diversified insurer and we operate in the UK, Ireland and Canada. We also have international investments in India and China.
- We help our 20.5 million customers make the most out of life, plan for the future, and have the confidence that if things go wrong we’ll be there to put it right.
- We have been taking care of people for more than 325 years, in line with our purpose of being ‘with you today, for a better tomorrow’. In 2024, we paid £29.3 billion in claims and benefits to our customers.
- For more details on what we do, our business and how we help our customers, visit www.aviva.com/about-us
