Hugh Osmond’s Pearl Group has finalised a deal to cut the life assurer’s £3bn debt load and get a £500m capital injection from a new investor, Liberty Acquisition Holdings, after weeks of negotiations.

Liberty, a Cayman Islands-based “blank-cheque” company formed specifically to look for acquisitions, is expected to announce on Wednesday it has entered a period of exclusivity to close the deal, which will see it take a stake of about 60 per cent.