Sale of the underwriting unit, which had $9.66bn in assets as of 30 June 2013, is part of its strategy to shore up the necessary capital buffers ahead of the implementation of new capital regulations.
Rothesay was established in 2007, with an aim to tap the evolving opportunities of the UK pension market.
Buoyed by the financial crisis of 2008 and subsequent infusion of billions of dollar of taxpayers’ money, the market regulators have forced many global financial organizations to create capital buffers to sustain such crisis in future.
They are also directed to offload their non-core operations as well as slash the percentage of risk-weighted assets across the globe, which is considered to be a measurement to decide how much capital should be preserved to sustain potential losses.
In April, the New York securities firm divested a majority of its Americas reinsurance operation Global Atlantic Financial Group, while it announced to sell its remaining stake in Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, in May.
In June, Goldman disposed of certain majority equity stake in REDI, a financial technology company, to a consortium of investors, including BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citadel and Lightyear Capital.
