BlackRock and Goldman Sachs Asset Management have joined the race to fund Phoenix Group's pension-risk transfer expansion, with Sixth Street also seeking to provide capital for the UK insurer's growth plans. The potential deal underscores growing US investor interest in the lucrative UK retirement market, where companies transfer pension obligations to insurers.

Phoenix aims to raise more than £1bn from private capital firms for a new entity to compete more aggressively with established players like PIC, Rothesay, and Legal & General. The funding would enable Phoenix to pursue larger buyouts of pension pots as competition intensifies in the sector. The UK pension risk transfer market is forecast to see up to £550bn in assets transferred to insurers over the next decade.

Phoenix is proposing a joint-venture structure with a separate legal entity rather than its main Phoenix Life Limited entity, addressing regulatory concerns about US alternative asset managers taking on excessive risk through insurers. The company is rebranding as Standard Life as it pursues this aggressive expansion strategy. Multiple asset managers could invest in the plan, nicknamed Project Ocean, though discussions remain at an early stage with no certainty of a transaction.