Metal-flow engineering company Vesuvius and the pension scheme it sponsors were nominated in Financial News’ awards for getting a grip on their pensions risks early, bringing their strategy to a successful conclusion in a planned and orderly way, and capping off with an innovative buy-in structure this year.

Our panel of 54 judges agreed, and awarded the firm first place in the Best De-Risking Strategy category. In a competitive field, however, it was the narrowest victory in the voting. Vesuvius's score of 3.62 out of 5 just pipped BAE Systems, whose £3.2bn longevity swap with Legal & General - the largest ever - was announced earlier this year, with 3.54 out of 5. Meanwhile, the Invensys Pension Scheme, whose funding deal agreed last year may have put the plan into a small surplus, came in a close third with an average score of 3.47.