# Telefónica UK Pension Plan Telefónica UK Pension Plan is a Pension Fund based in Hampshire, United Kingdom. ## Overview - **Organization type:** Pension Fund - **Headquarters:** Hampshire, United Kingdom - **Region:** Europe - **Address:** Hampshire, England, United Kingdom - **Assets under management:** Undisclosed - **Website:** telefonicapensionplan.lcp.uk.com ## Regulatory record - **Reports private funds:** No ## About The Telefónica UK Pension Plan governs retirement assets for employees and former employees of the UK arm of the Spanish telecoms group, now operating as Virgin Media O2 following the 2021 joint venture between Telefónica S.A. and Liberty Global. The plan is overseen by a corporate trustee, Telefónica UK Pension Trustee Limited, with Anthony Soothill as Chair of the Board. The scheme closed its defined-benefit section to future accrual years ago, shifting focus decisively toward liability management and eventual full buy-out. Today the plan runs what is best understood as a bifurcated structure: a very large insured bulk annuity policy with Pension Insurance Corporation covering the majority of pensioner liabilities, and a self-managed residual portfolio retained by the trustee. That retained portfolio spans direct UK commercial real estate — held through an M&G Real Estate mandate — alongside allocations to private debt and private equity funds globally. The PIC transaction, finalized in 2022, insured benefits for roughly 32,000 pensioners and marked a defining shift in the plan's risk posture (per the firm's official communications, 2022). The residual assets remain under active governance, with the trustee maintaining discretion over fund selection, manager relationships, and ESG integration. The plan signed the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment in 2021 and joined the Net Zero Asset Manager's initiative as part of a deliberate governance push. Anthony Soothill contributes to the Investment Consultants Sustainability Working Group, a collaborative body focused on standardizing ESG metrics across UK institutional asset owners. The trustee publishes climate disclosures aligned with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures framework. The plan's service providers include Legal & General for administration and investment platform services, alongside M&G and Pension Insurance Corporation for core portfolio mandates. The plan's structural differentiator lies in its post-buy-in architecture: unlike most UK defined-benefit schemes that move to full buy-out within a few years of a large-scale transaction, the Telefónica UK Pension Plan has deliberately retained a material self-invested portfolio post-annuitization. This preserves the trustee's ability to capture illiquidity premia in private markets and maintain direct control over ESG stewardship — a posture that blends the capital efficiency of an insured liability profile with the governance independence of a direct institutional allocator. ## Sectors - Real Estate - Private Credit - Private Equity - Insurance ## People - Anthony Soothill — Chair of the Board of Trustees ## Questions ### Who runs investment decisions at the Telefónica UK Pension Plan? The Board of Trustees, chaired by Anthony Soothill through the corporate trustee Telefónica UK Pension Trustee Limited, holds ultimate fiduciary responsibility for investment strategy. Day-to-day manager selection, monitoring, and asset allocation recommendations are supported by the plan's investment consultant and administrative services from Legal & General. The trustee retains direct discretion over the residual self-managed portfolio not covered by the Pension Insurance Corporation buy-in. ### How is the Telefónica UK Pension Plan structured following the PIC bulk annuity transaction? The £3.5 billion buy-in executed with Pension Insurance Corporation in 2022 covers the benefits of roughly 32,000 pensioner members, transferring the majority of longevity, interest-rate, and inflation risk to the insurer. The trustee retained a self-managed residual portfolio comprising direct UK commercial real estate through M&G Real Estate, private debt funds, and private equity commitments. This creates a dual structure: an insured tranche and a governed allocation to illiquid return-seeking assets. ### What is the plan's relationship with Virgin Media O2? Virgin Media O2 is the sponsoring employer and was formed as a 50:50 joint venture between Telefónica S.A. and Liberty Global in 2021. The pension plan covers UK employees and former employees of the legacy Telefónica Europe plc operations. The sponsor covenant underpins the plan's funding position, though the bulk annuity policy now substantially reduces reliance on that covenant for insured member benefits. ### Does the Telefónica UK Pension Plan invest directly in private companies or only through funds? The plan's residual portfolio allocations to private debt and private equity are executed through fund commitments rather than direct co-investments, based on public descriptions of the mandate structure. The direct real estate exposure is held through a segregated M&G Real Estate mandate invested in UK commercial property assets. The trustee does not publicly disclose individual fund manager names outside of its annual report and accounts. ### How does the plan approach responsible investment and climate risk? The plan became a UN Principles for Responsible Investment signatory in 2021 and committed to the Net Zero Asset Manager's initiative. It supports the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures framework and publishes annual climate reporting. Chair Anthony Soothill participates in the Investment Consultants Sustainability Working Group, which focuses on standardizing ESG metrics across UK institutional investors — a governance signal that the trustee takes ESG integration seriously beyond compliance box-ticking. ## Related profiles - [Teledyne Technologies Incorporated Pension Plan](https://altss.com/profile/teledyne-technologies-incorporated-pension-plan) - [Teleios Capital Partners](https://altss.com/profile/teleios-capital-partners-llc) --- Last updated: 2026-07-06T00:38:57.192Z Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/telef-nica-uk-pension-plan Maintained by Altss — https://altss.com — methodology: https://altss.com/methodology