Legal & General to Sell Closed Mature Savings Business

Legal & General Group PLC (LGEN.LN) said Wednesday that it will sell its closed mature savings business to Swiss Re Ltd. (SSREY) subsidiary ReAssure for 650 million pounds ($873.6 million).

The business comprises mainly retail customers who hold traditional insurance-based pensions, savings and investment products, Legal & General said, adding that it had GBP33 billion in assets in the first half of 2017.

Swiss Re said that the move is consistent with its strategy to acquire closed-life books in the U.K.

Legal & General said that the proceeds from the sale will be satisfied in cash at the start of January 2018, with all profits and transfers for the 2017 financial year to be retained by Legal & General.

The transaction is expected to be completed in mid-2019 and Legal & General expects that it will generate a small increase in the group's solvency 2 ratio--an important metric in the insurance industry--with net proceeds to be reinvested in growth opportunities for its core businesses.

Write to Oliver Griffin at oliver.griffin@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 06, 2017 02:45 ET (07:45 GMT)