LEGAL & GENERAL COMPLETES SALE OF LEGAL & GENERAL NETHERLANDS TO CHESNARA PLC
As previously announced on the 24 November 2016, Legal & General Group Plc ("Legal & General") has today announced the completion of the sale of Legal & General Nederland Levensverzekering Maatschappij N.V. ("Legal & General Netherlands") to Chesnara plc ("Chesnara") for €161 million. The sale of the business has marginally improved the group coverage ratio, and delivered a small IFRS profit.
Legal & General is disposing of non-core businesses, focusing capital and resource on core businesses in growth markets where we believe we can achieve significant scale and deliver attractive returns for shareholders. We have previously sold businesses in Ireland, France, Egypt, the Gulf, and Suffolk Life and Cofunds in the UK.
Legal & General Netherlands is headquartered in Hilversum, Netherlands, and was established in 1984. It is a leading player in adviser-led risk and investment-linked products, sold through independent financial advisers, serving high-end affluent customers. It also has an established defined contribution group pension platform focused on Dutch SMEs. It has over 210, 000 policyholders, funds under management are €2.1 billion, and it wrote protection gross written premiums of €63 million in 2016.
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For further information, please contact:
Investors:
Laura Doyle Head of Investor Relations 020 3124 2088
Sujee Rajah Investor Relations Manager 020 3124 2047
Media:
Richard King Head of Group Corporate Communications 020 3124 2095
Financial PR for Chesnara
FWD Consulting 020 7280 0651
Roddy Watt 07714 770493
Notes to editors:
Legal & General Group Plc:
1. 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 £14.6bn (as at 4 April 2017) and is responsible for investing £894.2bn worldwide (as at 31 December 2016) on behalf of investors, policyholders and shareholders.
2. 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.
3. For full year 2016, Legal & General's adjusted operating profit (IFRS basis) was £1,628m and adjusted earnings per share were 22.20p for the period, an increase of 11% and 19% respectively. Net release from operations (net cash) was up 12% to £1,411. Full year dividend was up 7% to 14.35p, with adjusted return on equity at 19.6%. Legal & General Retirement new business was £8.5bn, and annuity assets were up 25% to £54.4bn. Group wide direct investments were up 39% to £10bn.
4. Legal & General is listed on the London Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol LGEN.LN and has an American Depositary Receipt ticker symbol OTC:LGGNY. Further information on our ADR program can be found here: http://www.legalandgeneralgroup.com/investors/adr.html
For more information on Legal & General, please see http://www.legalandgeneralgroup.com/
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.
