Britain’s biggest pensions insurance specialist has joined the race to buy the 999-year lease of the O2, London’s best-known entertainment venue.

Sky News has learnt that Rothesay, which has more than £70bn of assets under management, is among the bidders for the long-term income stream generated by the arena in North Greenwich.

Rothesay and the Universities Superannuation Scheme – along with a small number of undisclosed bidders – are participating in an auction being run by Eastdil, the real estate-focused investment bank.

None of the parties has secured exclusivity, although insiders suggested such a development was unlikely to be far away.

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Rothesay has become one of Britain’s most successful specialist insurers, having been established in 2007.

It now protects the pensions of more than 1m people in Briton and makes more than £300m in pension payouts every month.

The auction of the O2’s ground rent has been under way for several months, with Sky News having revealed it was being put up for sale by Cambridge University’s wealthiest college.

Trinity College, which ranks among Britain’s biggest landowners, acquired the site in 2009 for a reported £24m.

The O2, which shrugged off its “white elephant” status in the aftermath of its disastrous debut as the Millennium Dome in 2000, has since become one of the world’s leading entertainment venues.

Operated by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), it has played host to a wide array of music, theatrical and sporting events over nearly a quarter of a century.

Trinity College, which was founded by Henry VIII in 1546, bought the O2 lease from Lend Lease and Quintain, the property companies which had taken control of the Millennium Dome site in 2002 for nothing.

A spokesman for Rothesay declined to comment.