LEGAL & GENERAL TO SELL SUFFOLK LIFE TO CURTIS BANKS
Legal & General Group plc has today announced the sale of Suffolk Life, one of the UK's leading providers and administrators of SIPPs, to Curtis Banks Group plc for £45 million. The acquisition is subject to an underwritten placing by Curtis Banks Group plc, and regulatory approval, both of which are expected in the first half of 2016.
Mark Gregory, Group Chief Finance Officer said: "Legal & General is delighted to have played a part in the success of Suffolk Life. It is a great business, but it is not core to our focused strategy going forward. Teaming up with Curtis Banks will help it to realise its strong potential, by creating one of the UK's largest SIPP providers."
Chris Banks, Executive Chairman of Curtis Banks Group plc, said: "We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Suffolk Life which accelerates our strategy of becoming the leading full SIPP provider in the UK. Suffolk Life is one of the oldest and most respected brands in the SIPP industry, with an excellent reputation for service and professionalism. We are delighted that Legal & General has chosen us to take ownership of this business and believe this reflects our strong standing and market reputation."
Suffolk Life specialises in self-invested personal pensions ("SIPPs"), and administers around 26,500 plans, including 3,600 commercial properties. Assets under administration were £8.7 billion as at 30th November 2015. The business was established in 1971 and is based in Ipswich.
Legal & General is disposing of non-core businesses, and focusing on core activities where we believe we can achieve significant scale and attractive returns on capital. We disposed of Legal & General France, Legal & General Ireland and Egypt in 2015.
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For further information, please contact:
Investors:
Laura Doyle Head of Investor Relations 020 3124 2088
Stephen Thomas Investor Relations Manager 020 3124 2047
Media:
John Godfrey Corporate Affairs Director 020 3124 2090
Richard King Head of Group Corporate Communications 020 3124 2095
Notes to editors:
Legal & General Group Plc
Established in 1836, Legal & General is a leading provider of insurance, savings and investment management products in the UK. The Group has a market capitalisation of £14.3bn (as at 14 January 2016) and is responsible for investing £728bn worldwide (as at 30th September 2015) on behalf of investors, policyholders and shareholders. Legal & General has over seven million customers in the UK for life assurance, pensions, investments and general insurance plans and over one million customers in the US who rely on us for life assurance. In 2014, Legal & General's operating profit (on the IFRS basis) was £1,275m and earnings per share were 16.70p for the period, an increase of 10% for both respectively.
For more information on Legal & General, please see http://www.legalandgeneralgroup.com/
Legal & General Group plc is being advised on the transaction by Fenchurch Advisory Partners LLP.
Suffolk Life
Suffolk Life is one of the UK's leading providers and administrators of SIPPs. The business is based in Ipswich with approximately 240 employees, and manages around 26,500 plans with assets under administration of £8.7bn as at 30th November 2015. Suffolk Life has an award-winning proposition and has built a strong reputation for SIPP property expertise. The business administers full SIPPs on behalf of high net worth individuals and mass affluent clients and distributes exclusively through external financial advisers. Suffolk Life also provides SIPPs for platforms and has a contract for the provision of SIPPs for the Cofunds platform.
Curtis Banks Group plc
Curtis Banks Group plc (AIM: CBP) is one of the UK's largest providers of full SIPPs and Small Self-Administered Pension Schemes ("SSAS") with over £9bn of assets under administration. The business commenced trading in 2009 and has successfully grown both organically and through acquisition. Curtis Banks employs approximately 270 staff in its head office in Bristol and regional offices in Dundee and Market Harborough.
For more information, please see http://www.curtisbanks.co.uk/
Forward-looking statements
This announcement may contain certain forward-looking statements relating to Legal & General, its plans and its current goals and expectations relating to future financial condition, performance and results. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances which are beyond Legal & General's control, including, among others, UK domestic and global economic and business conditions, market related risks such as fluctuations in interest rates and exchange rates, the policies and actions of regulatory and Governmental authorities, the impact of competition, the timing impact of these events and other uncertainties of future acquisition or combinations within relevant industries. As a result, Legal & General's actual future condition, performance and results may differ materially from the plans, goals and expectations set out in these forward-looking statements and persons reading this announcement should not place reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made only as at the date on which such statements are made and Legal & General Group Plc does not undertake to update forward-looking statements contained in this announcement or any other forward-looking statement it may make.
