Chris Martin

Director and Founder of IGG | Interim Head of Risk Transfer

Contact Information

Email me  •  LinkedIn

A leading figure in the industry, Chris is a Director and Founder of IGG.

He is focused on building and maintaining constructive relationships between the trustee board and other key stakeholders with a clear strategic objective of member benefit security as the overarching priority. He believes that effective pension scheme management is a collegiate effort, positively encouraging active engagement from all stakeholders.

Chris leads IGG’s trustee appointments on several high-profile cases including Co-op Group, Coats plc, Legal & General plc, Atos SE, Northern Foods Limited and Bayer plc. His style is described by colleagues and peers alike as inclusive and collaborative.

 

“As a firm we’ve worked with IGG on a number of risk transfer projects this year, on both employer side and trustee side. Chris has lead a number of these cases and has been the key to unlocking the deals. Chris demonstrated an impressive ability to work at speed, quickly building teams internally and externally that operate effectively together, allowing them to identify, and take, opportunities in the market.

Chris has a proven track record of working on difficult cases and bring this deep knowledge of the industry to bear on finding solutions where there otherwise seem to be roadblocks.  This allows transactions to be executed capture value for members and sponsors that otherwise might be lost.

And importantly Chris and his team are always fun to work with.  There is no stuffiness and no grandstanding allowed from advisers.  We are all part of the same team, pulling together for the members.”

Helen Baker , Sackers

  • Challenging Covenant reviews
  • Expertise in Special situations
  • Fund raising/Re-financing
  • Restructuring
  • Risk transfer (buy in/buy out)
  • Scheme Mergers and demerger
  • Sole Trusteeship
  • Strategic planning and Board leadership
  • Working to agree long term objectives
  • Chairing a sectionalised scheme through a series of buy in bulk purchase annuity transactions totalling c£4bn as part of the Trustee and sponsor’s long-term de-risking strategy.
  • Acting as Chair to a scheme and working with the Board, Governance team, Sponsor and other advisers to deliver a £415m buy in.
  • Leading IGG’s largest PCST appointment through RPI/CPI changes, member option programmes, contingent security, innovative DRC arrangements and four-way merger.
  • Chairing a scheme through its ground-breaking debt for equity swap, sale of the business and back-to-back £835m buy out contract.
  • Leading the APP transactions for two schemes and then the subsequent move to full risk transfer.
  • Chairing a scheme through the restructuring sale and regulatory processes. Managing a range of stakeholders including TPR, PPF and the W&PSC whilst under intense media scrutiny. Working with the co-trustees to complete the £800m buy out.
BACK TO TEAM