Synesis Life - UK Pension and Annuity Transfer Specialist

Synesis Life provides bespoke solutions for the pensions and annuity market. Synesis offers a range of different remedies for companies’ pension problems, including full, partial and staged pension buy-outs and bespoke risk transfer solutions.

The company recognises that pension fund issues can rise up the corporate agenda rapidly during periods of intense activity so speed of response is key, Synesis has been set up so it can react quickly and ensure pension funds do not become a stumbling block during mergers, acquisitions and other forms of corporate transaction.

The company was formed in May 2006 and has financial backing from JPMorgan, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Warburg Pincus. Support from these three top-level institutional investors will allow Synesis to accept £7-10 billion of liabilities over the medium-term. The shareholder base has the financial resources to support further significant growth over time.

THE SYNESIS TEAM

Synesis Life was founded by Isabel Hudson, Mark Duffy and Jay Shah, all of whom worked together as senior executives at Prudential UK. Isabel was on the Board of Prudential UK and Jay and Mark were Directors in the Corporate Partnerships team.

David Newbigging, former Chairman of Friends Provident plc and Director of Merrill Lynch, is the company’s chairman. And Synesis recently appointed Gavin Hill as Investment Director. Gavin joined from GE Asset Management where he was Chief Executive.

The founders of Synesis pioneered the large annuity bulk buy-out market at Prudential completing £2.6 billion of total liabilities transfers within an eight-month period. These included the first major full liability annuity transfer in the UK insurance market, a £1.1 billion transfer from Royal London.

BESPOKE SOLUTIONS FOR DEFINED BENEFIT PENSION FUNDS

Synesis has one simple aim: to be a leading acquirer of medium to large annuity portfolios from UK insurance companies and pension funds. The company believes that recent market developments in the pension fund market, including the introduction of the Pensions Regulator and the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) will encourage corporate sponsors to consider risk transfer solutions such as those provided by Synesis. 

The company's approach is to work with corporate sponsors and trustees to analyse the risks inherent in their pension scheme. But unlike the traditional buy-out approach, Synesis segments pension fund risks, offering appropriate solutions for each segment.

The flexibility of this approach allows companies to tackle their pension issues in a variety of ways, based on their risk appetite and their financial position. Solutions comprise full, partial and staged pension buy-outs and costs can be reduced by capping risks and profit sharing.

LEADING ASSET AND LIABILITY MATCHING ANALYSIS

Synesis uses leading asset and liability matching and mortality techniques to complete an in-depth analysis of a pension fund’s underlying risk. For example, we look at the underlying socio-economic profile of the membership through post-code analysis to understand the underlying mortality of the membership.

The outcome of such analysis can be surprising to pension stakeholders and often results in a price substantially different from high-level estimates of potential buy-out costs.

In today's marketplace, such rigour is imperative and we would encourage any corporate who is looking at pension fund risk mitigation strategies to contact Synesis Life.