UK pensions' end-2007 surplus $29.74 billion

LONDON (Reuters) - The final-salary pension schemes of the UK's 100 largest companies will show an aggregate surplus of 15 billion pounds ($29.74 billion) at the end of 2007, Deloitte said on Wednesday.

This figure reflects an improvement of more than 55 billion pounds during the course of the year, Deloitte said.

A combination of relatively healthy investment returns of around 3.5 percent over the year, billions of pounds being pumped into pension schemes by employers and the falling price of corporate bonds which are used to measure company pension liabilities are responsible for the surplus, said Deloitte.

Critics argue the improvements are partly an illusion, because they are primarily driven by the benchmark having been lowered rather than a fundamental improvement in the financial strength of these schemes.

The subprime mortgage crisis has caused a tumbling in the price of AA-rated corporate bonds, which firms use as the benchmark measure for valuing their pension liabilities.

The surplus will rise to 30 billion by the end of 2008, Deloitte predicts, if companies' own expectations for 2008 stock market performance are proven correct.

This is likely to prompt an increase in the number of firms who seek to offload their pension liabilities in once-for-all deals with insurers such as Paternoster or specialist buyout firms such as Pension Corporation.

"Over 2008 companies will be looking to solve their pension problems for good," said David Robbins, a pensions partner at Deloitte.

Final-salary pensions, which guarantee members a retirement income linked to their pay, have become a major headache to many firms, which saw their schemes plunge deep into the red due to the bear market in equities in the early 2000s, contribution holidays and growing life expectancy.

Demands by the pension trustees of Sainsburys (SBRY.L) for a major cash injection into their scheme have helped derail two takeover attempts for the grocery firm, while attempts by airport operator BAA to close its final-salary scheme prompted workers to vote to strike.

(Reporting by Simon Challis; Editing by Rory Channing)