High Court Approves Settlement of British Vita Pensions Appeal Case
11 December
We are pleased to announce that the High Court has approved a settlement of the appeal brought by British Vita Unlimited against the trustees of the British Vita Pension Fund and the British Vita SE&D Pension Fund. British Vita, the sponsoring employer of the two Funds, was acquired in June 2005 by two subsidiaries of the Texas Pacific Group, a private equity firm. It initiated proceedings in November 2006 to challenge the validity of two lump sum contribution demands made by the trustees in July 2006 totalling £49.6 million.
In April 2007 Mr Justice Warren held that:
1. the new statutory scheme specific funding regime established by the Pensions Act 2004 did not affect the powers of the trustees to make the demands under the Funds' respective contribution rules ( "the First Decision"); and
2. the trustees' apportionment of the demands between the Funds' participating employers was within the scope of the contribution rule in each Fund's governing trust deed and rules.
In considering the impact of Part 3 of the 2004 Act, Mr Justice Warren held that the trustees’ powers under the contribution rules remained exercisable until the Funds’ first schedules of contributions under the Act were in place. He declined to decide, because it was not necessary for him so to do, whether those powers could also be exercised after the first schedules were in place.
British Vita appealed against the First Decision by Mr Justice Warren. The appeal was due to be heard by the Court of Appeal on 11 December 2007.
The directors of the trustee companies comprise three independent professional trustee bodies (The Law Debenture Pension Trust Corporation p.l.c., BESTrustees plc and Ross Russell Limited) together with a number of member-nominated directors.
The Pinsent Masons team advising the trustees was led by pensions specialist partner Anthea Whitton with pensions litigation partner Isabel Nurse-Marsh and solicitor Helen Brown.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised British Vita.
For further information please contact:
Richard Treadwell
PR Adviser
Pinsent Masons,
richard.treadwell@pinsentmasons.com
DDI: 020 7418 8085
Mob: 07919 395976
Notes to Editors
Pinsent Masons is an international law firm with over 270 partners and 1000 lawyers world-wide, providing a full range of corporate and commercial services. The firm ranks amongst the top 100 global law firms.
With head-quarters in the City of London, Pinsent Masons' operation spans the UK, Continental Europe, the Middle-East and Asia Pacific. In the UK, the firm also has offices in Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Bristol. Internationally, Pinsent Masons is based in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Dubai and Brussels. Through the Pinsent Masons Luther Group (PMLG), the firm is allied to independent law firms in Germany, France, Austria, Hungary and the Baltic States.
