Firms also create partnership
involving £158 billion portfolio
BY SOPHIE BAKER · FEBRUARY
23, 2018 4:29 AM · UPDATED 10:22 AM
Standard Life Aberdeen is set to sell its
insurance business to Phoenix Group, moving toward a fee-based, capital-light
business with the aim of accelerating its growth strategy.
The firm, the result of a merger between
Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management last year,
announced the £3.2 billion ($4.5 billion) deal to sell Standard Life Assurance Ltd.
alongside its first full-year financial statement. Standard Life Assurance is a
life insurance and retirement savings business, based in the U.K. and with
operations in Ireland and Germany.
The deal value is made up of a 19.99%
shareholding in Phoenix Group and £2.3 billion in cash.
As well as selling the insurance business,
Standard Life Aberdeen announced an enhanced long-term strategic partnership
with Phoenix Group. The partnership includes the investment management of more
than £158 billion of assets under management for Phoenix; a commitment to
further review investment management allocations not now managed by Aberdeen
Standard Investments, the firm’s money management business; the opportunity for
wider collaboration as the money manager of choice for Phoenix Group; and the
shareholding and representation on the Phoenix Group board. Aberdeen Standard
now manages £48 billion for Phoenix Group.
Standard Life Aberdeen said the deal
accelerates its strategy of building a “world-class investment company,” with
the move to a fee-based, capital-light business. It simplified the group
structure and “strengthens our financial position enabling Standard Life
Aberdeen to accelerate its growth strategy through targeted investments,” added
the announcement.
The firm retains its three adviser businesses
— Wrap, Elevate and Parmenion — and its financial advice business, 1825, which
has £58 billion in assets under administration.
The deal is expected to close in the third
quarter, subject to regulatory approvals.
Last week, Lloyds Banking Group and affiliate
Scottish Widows said it would be moving £109 billion in assets under management
run in legacy allocations to Aberdeen Asset Management from the merged group
over competition concerns.
Standard Life Aberdeen’s 2017 update said
pro-forma fee-based revenue was up 2.6% over the year ended Dec. 31, to £2.76
billion, and profit was down 1.4% to £1.04 billion.
Assets under management and administration
grew 1.1% to £654.9 billion, with assets under management for Aberdeen Standard
Investments falling 0.8% to £575.7 billion for the year.
Net outflows for money management were £37.3
billion in 2017, vs. £39.7 billion in 2016. Net outflows were recorded across
all strategies, with the majority from equities, at £8.2 billion. That compared
with equities net outflows in 2016 of £13.9 billion.
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