Athora Holding Limited has announced an agreement to acquire Pension Insurance Corporation Group Limited (PICG), the parent company of Pension Insurance Corporation plc (PIC), in a landmark transaction valued at approximately £5.7 billion.
Under the terms of the deal, PIC will become Athora’s UK insurance subsidiary—marking the first time in its 20-year history that the specialist insurer will operate under a single strategic owner. Despite the change in ownership, PIC will retain its brand identity and remain focused on the UK’s defined benefit pension market.
According to both companies, the acquisition is designed to enhance PIC’s growth trajectory and strengthen its capacity to engage in a greater number of pension risk transfer transactions, while maintaining its commitment to investing in long-duration UK assets.
Athora is a pan-European insurance group with operations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and Italy. The group currently manages €76 billion in assets on behalf of 2.8 million policyholders and is backed by long-term institutional investors including Apollo Global Management, Athene Holding Limited, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).
Upon completion of the transaction, the combined group will manage over €130 billion in assets and serve more than three million customers across Europe. PIC will represent approximately 45% of Athora’s total assets under management and administration, becoming the group’s largest and fastest-growing business segment.
Currently, PIC manages £50.9 billion in assets that support the pensions of around 400,000 individuals. To date, it has paid out more than £16 billion in pensions and has invested £30 billion into the UK economy—£13.8 billion of which is allocated to long-term sectors such as housing and infrastructure, aligning with its liability-matching investment strategy.
PICG’s current shareholders include Reinet (49.5%), ADIA (18.4%), CVC Capital Partners (17.4%), HPS Investment Partners (10.2%), alongside employees and other minority investors. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in early 2026.
