LONDON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - A unit of U.S. insurer PrudentialFinancial said on Thursday it had completed a $2.9billion longevity deal for British insurer Legal & General.
Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity company said itwas reinsuring the longevity of retirees insured by L&G's bulkannuity business.
In a bulk annuity transaction, an insurer takes on some orall of the risk of a company defined benefit, or final salary,pension scheme. Reinsuring against longevity helps insurersmanage the risk that retirees live longer than expected.
Prudential reinsured 1.35 billion pounds ($2.11 billion) ofLegal & General's bulk annuity portfolio last year.
L&G said this month that it was using structures such aslongevity deals to reduce the capital costs of its annuitybusiness.
($1 = 0.6390 pounds) (Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Jason Neely)