Guggenheim Life and Annuity Co. (GLAC) will reinsure policies issued by Standard Life Insurance Co. (SLIC), which has been in rehabilitation since 2008.

The Indiana Department of Insurance asked that SLIC be placed under rehabilitation Dec. 18, 2008, to protect policyholders from its deteriorating investment portfolio, according to GLAC.

The reinsurance agreement states that GLAC will insure about 34,000 individuals, including 3,400 in Indiana; guarantee employment to 55 SLIC employees for at least 18 months; will succeed Delaware Investments as asset manager of SLIC’s assets; will take over SLIC’s offices in Carmel; and notify policyholders of the terms of the transaction and changes to their contracts, the company said.

The agreement requires the approval by the Marion County Circuit Court.

“This agreement promises a successful conclusion to the department’s efforts to protect the policyholders of this company,” Indiana Insurance Commissioner Stephen W. Robertson said in a statement. “It’s a credit to our rehabilitation team and to Guggenheim Life and Annuity that the solution, in addition to achieving our primary goal of protecting consumers, would keep the business operations and the jobs in Indiana.”

Terms of the agreement for policyholders include a six-month extension of the moratorium on loan and cash surrender rights for SLIC policies; payment in full of all death claims; court-approved hardship withdrawals and income payments; and annual 10% withdrawals without penalty on contracts providing for such withdrawals, according to GLAC.

GLAC, currently based in Indianapolis, Ind., is a subsidiary of Guggenheim Partners, a global financial services firm headquartered in New York and Chicago with more than $100 billion in assets under supervision.