Swiss Re is planning to float its UK unit, which manages the closed books of life assurance companies, in a bid to take advantage of the number of opportunities in the market.
The Zurich-based company is looking to hold an initial public offering of shares in ReAssure next year.
The company stated: "Given the size of potential opportunities that are expected to come up in the market over the mid-term, it is important for ReAssure to have access to substantial new capital to acquire additional closed books."
Last year Japanese insurance company MS&AD Insurance paid £175m for a 5 per cent stake in ReAssure, which would value the whole company at £3.5bn.
A few months later ReAssure spent £650m on buying Legal & General's mature savings business, which has assets of £33bn and included both unit-linked business and L&G's £21.4bn with profits fund.
ReAssure is expected to be listed in the UK and Swiss Re said it intends to remain a "significant" shareholder in the business.
The unit has more than 2.3 million policies on its books and it looks after investments of more than £44bn.
damian.fantato@ft.com