Buyouts of UK pension funds could total as much as £10 billion by the end of 2008, a new report from the pensions advisory firm Lane Clarke & Peacock (LCP) has concluded.

This would represent a three-fold increase on the total for 2007 and comes as growing numbers of businesses are looking to off-load their defined benefit pension schemes, largely influenced by tougher regulatory legislation and planned changes to accountancy rules.

According to the new report, there are at least seven £1 billion-plus schemes and ten FTSE 100 schemes currently considering bids for their schemes from buyout firms, with LCP confident that the first major deal will be tied up in the near future.

"We see the first major FTSE 100 pension scheme buyout as inevitable and likely to be imminent," the firm noted.

The pensions buyout market is currently estimated to be worth £1 trillion, with the global credit crunch likely to allow buyout companies such as Paternoster and Legal & General, to keep their prices down as much as possible.