Swiss Life, one of Europe's largest insurance companies, is to sell the bulk of its private equity portfolio to Pantheon Ventures, the fund of funds specialist owned by Russell Investment Group, citing fears over a lack of liquidity in the asset class.

The transaction involves Swiss Life's interest in 40 funds as well as direct investments valued at around Sfr400m (€257m). It will slash Swiss Life's outstanding commitments in private equity by over Sfr300m.