CVC Capital Partners and Standard Life launch UK pension risk platform

CVC Capital Partners and Standard Life have announced a strategic joint venture to launch a new pension risk transfer (PRT) platform. The partnership is designed to target large and complex defined benefit (DB) schemes in the United Kingdom.

The consortium includes participation from Prudential Financial, Goldman Sachs, and MS&AD Insurance Group. The group has established initial capital commitments of up to £2 billion to be drawn down over a five-year period. CVC has committed £400 million, while Standard Life is set to contribute £500 million and will maintain operational control of the partnership.

The venture aims to provide corporate sponsors with more options to de-risk legacy pension obligations by leveraging Standard Life’s regulatory infrastructure and CVC’s access to diverse private market investments, including asset-backed lending, real estate credit, and infrastructure credit. The transaction remains subject to regulatory approval.