Legal & General (L&G) is interested in buying Aegon’s £9 billion UK annuity business.
In September 2015 New Model Adviser® revealed Aegon was weighing the sale of its £9 billion annuity business as part of a review into its UK operations.
L&G is one of the companies interested in buying the business alongside specialist pension insurer Rothesay Life, according to International Business Times.
Aegon’s life sales have slumped since chancellor George Osborne announced the pension freedoms in March 2014.
In November 2015, Aegon reported life a 30% decline in new life sales between 1 July and 30 September 2015 to £139 million. In its half year results in 2015 it reported a 16% fall in life sales from, £278 million in 2014 to £190 million. The company said the fall was due to a decline in annuity sales.
A spokesman for Aegon said the company was continuing to review its annuity business but was not yet able to provide an update on the review.
‘In September 2015 we confirmed we’d initiated a review of our UK annuity portfolio. This process continues and we will update the market in due course,’ he said.
L&G has targeted bulk annuity deals following the pension reforms. In October 2015, it secured its first US deal with electronics company Philips.
Rothesay Life has also purchased an annuity book last year. In May 2015, it acquired 28,000 UK annuity policies worth £1.2 billion from Zurich.
L&G has also confirmed it has sold it its French business to Apicil Prévoyance.
The life company is also looking to sell its Netherlands-based business following the introduction of tougher solvency rules for insurance companies in the EU, according to the Telegraph.
Source New Model Adviser