Mitchells & Butlers agrees $860 million pension insurance deal with L&G

LONDON (Reuters) - British pub operator Mitchells & Butlers has agreed a 650 million pounds ($860 million) pension insurance deal with Legal & General, L&G said on Tuesday.

The deal insures all members in the Mitchells & Butlers Executive Pension Plan, British insurer L&G said in a statement.

British companies have been paying insurers to take on the risk of their defined benefit, or final salary, pension schemes in recent years through the so-called bulk annuity market, as the schemes are costly to run, and many are in deficit.

Insurance enables companies to take pension risk off their balance sheets.

The bulk annuity market will likely see a lower value of transactions this year than last, industry specialists say, due to a lack of large - one billion pound-plus - deals.

However, the pipeline remains strong, they add.

($1 = 0.7558 pounds)

(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Mark Potter)