Scottish Annuity to Buy Unit of Pacific Life

Scottish Annuity & Life Holdings Ltd. on Monday said it would buy a reinsurance unit of Pacific Life Insurance Co. for $78 million in stock to boost capital and build a core business overseas.

Scottish Annuity, which provides reinsurance of life insurance and annuities and also issues customized variable life and annuity products for the wealthy, will buy World-Wide Holdings Ltd. and its World-Wide Reassurance Co. Ltd. unit, based in Windsor, England.

World-Wide, which provides life reinsurance mostly to insurance companies outside the United States, has about $166 million in assets.

Newport Beach-based Pacific Life would be the largest shareholder of Scottish Annuity after the deal, owning about 22% of the Cayman Island insurer’s outstanding stock.

Scottish shares edged up 15 cents to $18.60 on Nasdaq.