Demand from FTSE companies to offload their pension funds looks set to outstrip insurance companies’ capacity to take them on for the first time, according to new analysis of the market.

Keen pricing on such deals led to a surge in transactions last year, to an annual record of £24.2bn, as companies including PA Consulting and Rentokil Initial offloaded their funds. Now, LCP, the pensions consultancy, has raised the prospect that the market might hit a “tipping point”.