Philip Moore, the former chief executive of Friends Provident, has resurfaced at Pension Corporation (PC), the retirement fund buyout firm, almost a year after being ousted from the insurer following the collapse of its planned £8.8 billion merger with Resolution.

Mr Moore, who was forced to step down last December when Resolution ditched the deal in favour of an alternative tie-up with Pearl, a rival, will be "facilitating the strategic development" of PC, the buyout firm said. He becomes PC's group finance partner, effective immediately.

Edmund Truell, PC's chief executive, said he was confident that Mr Moore's 25 years' experience of the pensions industry would provide "huge benefit" to the buyout firm.

He highlighted that during his time in charge at Friends, the insurer boosted sales in its life and pensions arm and improved underlying earnings per share.

Mr Moore also initiated the three-year turnaround plan at F&C Asset Management, the UK fund manager 52 per cent owned by Friends, PC said.

That stake, along with Lombard, the high-end investment adviser, is currently up for sale as Friends presses ahead with its own recovery scheme under Trevor Matthews, the new chief executive.

Before joining Friends, Mr Moore held a number of senior jobs, including in South-East Asia for PricewaterhouseCoopers, the consultant, and head of mergers and acquisitions for AMP, the Australian fund management group.

Friends was forced to seek the tie-up with Resolution amid huge question marks over its financial strength. It was also forced to abandon an ambitious target of doubling new business profits by the end of this year, a target put in place by Mr Moore.

The target is thought to have been a cause of serious tension between Mr Moore and his finance director at the time, Jim Smart. Mr Smart, who stayed on during a strategic review and until the arrival of Mr Matthews, subsequently left the insurer.

PC is backed by several substantial financial investors, including Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Swiss Re.

It manages schemes worth around £5 billion, including Telent, the rump of the former Marconi telecoms group that it bought last year.

It also owns Thorn Group, the electricals group, and the pension scheme of Thresher, the wine merchants.

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