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By Sarah Mortimer
LONDON, May 29 (Reuters) - Insurer Rothesay Life, part ofGoldman Sachs, is to insure 190 million pounds ($285.68million) of pension liabilities for medical devices maker Smith& Nephew.
Smith & Nephew's two final salary-linked retirement plans - the UK pension fund and the UK executive scheme - are payingGoldman's Rothesay Life for a form of investment policy thatwill generate income to cover payments to members, the insurersaid on Wednesday.
Demand for such insurance has grown strongly because manyBritish pension funds, hit by longer lifespans and lowinvestment returns, are struggling with rising pension deficitsand are looking for ways to offload some of their obligations.
Rothesay expects the UK market for these deals - known asbulk annuities - to reach 5-6 billion pounds this year, up from4 billion last year.
Rothesay, which launched in 2007 and acquired rivalPaternoster in 2011, said it wrote more than 1 billion pounds ofnew bulk annuity business in 2012.
The insurer did the biggest bulk annuity deal in 2012 withthe Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund at 680 million pounds.
Rothesay Life competes with the likes of Pension InsuranceCorporation, Legal & General, Aviva andPrudential.
