Sidley Austin and A&O Shearman have been called in to advise Athora, the European insurance group backed by Apollo Global Management, on its landmark £5.7bn acquisition of HSF Kramer-repped Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC).

Slaughter and May is acting for a consortium of PIC shareholders, including Reinet Investments, CVC Capital Partners, HPS Investment Partners and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority on the deal.

The acquisition marks a major expansion for Athora into the UK’s £2trn retirement savings market and will give Apollo increased exposure to the fast-growing UK pension de-risking sector. With £50bn in assets under management and close to 400,000 policyholders, PIC will become Athora’s largest subsidiary and build on its existing presence in the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Germany.

The Sidley team guiding Athora is led by Perry Shwachman, global co-head of the firm’s M&A and private equity group, and private equity co-heads Ramy Wahbeh and Sean Carney.

The A&O Shearman team is led by insurance co-head Philip Jarvis, head of UK M&A Seth Jones, and partners Stephen Mathews (M&A) and Kate McInerney (insurance).

Meanwhile, the HSF Kramer team acting for PIC is led by London corporate partner Barney Hinnigan and consultant Ben Ward.

The Slaughters team guiding PIC’s shareholder consortium is led by corporate and private equity partners Robert Innes and Filipo de Falco.

The acquisition is set to deliver a strong return for PIC’s backers, particularly CVC and Reinet, whose investments helped drive its significant growth, including its landmark £6.5bn RSA pension buyout in 2023, Private Equity Wire reported. PIC was advised on that deal by CMS.

The transaction, which is subject to approval by the Prudential Regulation Authority, is expected to close in early Q1 2026.

News of the deal follows worldwide M&A activity jumping 33% in the first half to $1.98trn, the best start to a year since 2022. A&O Shearman ranked 11th in London Stock Exchange Group’s global M&A advisor rankings by deal value after working on deals worth $122.9bn, while Slaughter and May ranked 21st after working on deals worth $71.8bn. Sidley Austin and HSF Kramer were not among the top 25 firms included in the rankings.