Aon and Willis Towers Watson are confirming the European Commission’s conditional approval of the two companies’ proposed merger. “This is a major step that demonstrates continued progress toward obtaining regulatory clearances for the proposed combination,” said the companies, in a press release. “Both firms operate across broad, competitive areas of the economy and believe this approval affirms […]
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is suing to block the merger of two of the world’s largest insurance brokers, asserting the deal could eliminate competition, raise prices and hamper innovation for American businesses, employers and unions that use the companies’ services. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the antitrust suit filed in federal […]
Aon is selling its U.S. retirement business to Aquiline Capital Partners and its retiree health exchange business to Alight Solutions for a total of US$1.4 billion. The sales are intended to address questions raised by the U.S. Department of Justice ahead of the pending merger of Aon and Willis Towers Watson, according to a press […]
The funded positions of Canadian defined benefit pension plans continued to recover in the third quarter of 2020, but major risks lie ahead, according to both Mercer Canada’s latest pension health index and Aon’s latest median solvency ratio survey. Mercer’s index, which represents the solvency ratio of a hypothetical DB pension plan, increased from 101 […]
Aon and Willis Towers Watson’s proposed merger has received approval by their respective shareholders. The merger, announced in March, remains subject to customary regulatory and other closing conditions. It’s expected to close in the first half of 2021. Upon closing, Willis Towers Watson shareholders will receive 1.08 Aon shares in exchange for each Willis Towers […]
At the time of my last column in May, many pension plan sponsors were catching their breath after watching funding levels take a roller coaster ride. After a steep drop earlier in the year, funding levels were slowly recovering. However, market uncertainty remained and it wasn’t clear what was coming next. Thankfully the last few […]
The rallying cry that China is simply too significant a part of the world’s economy to leave out of a well-diversified portfolio is about to be last year’s cliché. For the moment, the country remains the second largest economic engine in the world, but its stunning growth in just the past few years has investors […]
Global consulting firm Aon is launching a new pooled employer retirement plan on Jan. 1, 2021. U.S. defined contribution plan sponsors will be able to transfer their assets and members to the pooled employer plan — or PEP. Aon will be managing the investment lineup and taking care of the whole ecosystem involved with offering […]
West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. isn’t annuitizing multiple defined benefit plans to get out of the pension business. In fact, the British Columbia-based integrated wood products company is committed to DB. “We believe we get tremendous value out of our DB plans around recruitment and definitely around retention of our employees,” says Elaine Jensen, the […]
Aon survey shows DB plans struggling with low asset returns and poor Canadian equity performance.