Pensions Regulator - Determation Notice

Any news on the pension front, please put it here.....

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marky9074
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This is a closed, defined benefit, contracted out scheme and as at 5 April 2002 the size of the fund was £5,377,000. There was a deficit of £463,000 which represented a funding level of 92% on the Minimum Funding Requirement basis. The employer company, Horizon Exploration Limited (Co A), (Co A) went into administration on 24 September 1999 and benefit accrual and contributions ceased on 30 September 1999. The trustees did not commence the winding up ofthe scheme at that time. The Regulator does not know why wind up did not commence.
On the 18 January 2006 the actuary at KPMG made a report, protected by section 70 of the Pensions Act 2004, to the Regulator. The report concerned a loan in July/August 2005 from the scheme assets of approximately £1.25 million ($2m) to a company, Laurentian Holdings (Co B), based in the British Virgin Islands. This loan represented about 20% of the scheme assets of £5.4 million at that time. The loan to the company was supported by a second charge on MV CGG Laurention, a vessel owned by LHL (Co B). The vessel was purchased for $11.5m. A first charge amounting to $6.5m had already been placed on the vessel by the Clydesdale Bank and the investment by the trustees constituted a second charge of $2m. KPMG (scheme actuary) considered the above investment to be counter to what it understood to be the current Statement of Investment Principles (SIP).
09.07.06 Arrow Seismic to Purchase Seismic Vessel from Laurentian.
Arrow Seismic Invest IV Ltd., a 54 % owned subsidiary of Arrow Seismic ASA, has agreed on Head Terms of an Memorandum of Agreement with Laurentian Holding and TechMarine International Plc. Subject final agreement, Arrow will purchase the seismic research vessel "Laurentian" from LH and Laurentian's charter party with seismic major CGG from TMI.

The charter party yields an annual operational cash flow of about US $5.5 million and expires in August 2008 whereafter CGG has an option to extend the charter party for either two or three years. "Laurentian" is a multistreamer seismic vessel built in 1983, converted to seismic in 1998 and upgraded to six streamer capacity in 2005. Included in the purchase price are compressors and winches. The effective date of the purchase is July 1, 2006 and total purchase price under the Memorandum of Agreement is US $17.9 million. The purchase of "Laurentian" confirms Arrow's position as a leading supplier of multistreamer seismic vessels to the marine seismic industry and emphasizes Arrow's strategy to offer flexible solutions to our customers as the market develops.
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edjones
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Hi Mark
Back on line at last. Thanks for the update.
Ed
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