29 March 2012
BEST Trustees plc (as Trustee of the Singer & Friedlander Ltd Pension & Assurance Scheme) v Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Ltd (in administration) [2012] EWHC 629 (Ch), [2012] All ER (D) 140 (Mar)
Chancery Division, Sales J, 16 Mar 2012
On the proper construction of reg 5 of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Employer Debt) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/678) (the 2005 Regulations), the time as at which the liabilities of a scheme are to be valued is the same time as the time at which the assets of the scheme are to be valued.
Christopher Nugee QC (instructed by Pinsent Masons LLP) for the trustee. Jonathon Hilliard (instructed by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP) for the employer.
The claimant trustee applied for a declaration as to the proper construction of reg 5 of the 2005 Regulations. The trustee made the application in its capacity as trustee of an occupational pension scheme.
The point of construction which arose was relevant to working out the amount of a debt owed by the defendant employer as the former employer of individuals who were members
