Kaufman & Broad Inc. and Unum Corp....

Kaufman & Broad Inc. and Unum Corp. signed letters of intent to buy Continental Corp.’s Commercial Life subsidiary for about $179 million in cash. Continental, which announced last September that it would divest its life insurance units, also said it will sell its smaller Loyalty Life unit to private investors in a deal valued at about $34 million. Los Angeles-based Kaufman & Broad expects to acquire about $900 million in annuity reserves from its share in Commercial Life and reported assets of $1.3 billion as of last March 31. Unum, based in Portland, Me., will get the balance of Commercial Life, plus some accident and health operations in Canada. Loyalty Life has assets valued at about $173 million.