Pacific Life Gets Piece of Defunct Company

Pacific Life Insurance Co. said it has acquired the U.S. portion of the annuity business of the now-defunct Canadian insurer Confederation Life Insurance Co. Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed. Most of the $2 billion in policies, known as structured settlement annuities, provide monthly payments of lawsuit settlement awards for plaintiffs. Newport Beach-based Pacific Life said it was the winning bidder after a six-week auction of the policies by Canadian regulators. In 1995, Pacific took over Confederation Life’s U.S. corporate-owned life insurance unit. Confederation Life, the fourth-largest Canadian life insurer, was seized by regulators in August 1994 after it was found not to have enough assets to protect policyholders or creditors. Pacific Life said it will issue new contracts to the 18,000 Confederation Life customers promising the same benefits as their original contracts.