British life insurer Phoenix said on Tuesday it was expanding its business open to new customers with the appointment of Aviva's Tom Ground to lead Retirement Services.

Phoenix, a specialist in buying and managing books of business closed to new customers, also said it was setting up five "open" business units.

In addition to Retirement Services, the four other units include Standard Life International and Ark Life, as well as SunLife, Phoenix said in a statement.

The move comes after Phoenix last month completed a deal to buy the British ReAssure closed life business of Swiss Re for 3.2 billion pounds ($4.1 billion) in its largest deal ever. 

Ground will start his new role at Phoenix in Jan 2021.

Former Aviva executive Andy Briggs took over as Phoenix CEO earlier this year.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru) ((muvija.m@tr.com; within UK: +44 20 7542 1810, outside UK: +91 80 6182 2698; Mobile: +91 90 4702 2289;))