Norton Rose equity partners will each shortly be handed an estimated £60,000 bill as part of a plan to fill a multimillion-pound hole in the firm¹s pension fund, it has emerged.
The City firm is currently drawing up a repayment plan to clear an estimated eight-figure deficit in its pension fund to comply with tougher pension regulation introduced in 2004.
The payment plan is due to be finalised in April this year, with the scheme to be agreed between Norton Rose¹s executive committee, headed by chief executive Peter Martyr, and the pension fund trustees.
The fund was closed to new entrants in 2002 but saw a funding shortfall widen to £13m in a 2003 valuation.
Partners have since moved to start repaying the deficit but a current valuation is expected to show a substantial deficit remaining.
It is expected that the firm will aim to clear the deficit over a 10-year period, leaving each partner with an annual bill of around £6,000.
The firm said that the shortfall was largely due to swings in European stock markets that have seen many company pension funds move from surpluses in the 1990s to deficits in recent years.
Norton Rose chief operating officer Kevin Mortell told Legal Week: ³While this sum would be a lot if it was your personal overdraft, as a firm it is quite modest.²