Standard Life has agreed to buy rival Aegon’s UK enterprise for £2 billion in a transfer set to create a pension and financial savings big with 16 million clients and £480 million belongings below administration.
The deal will see Standard Life – lately rebranded from Phoenix Group – pay £750 million in money, part-funded by debt, and difficulty 181.1 million new shares to Dutch monetary agency Aegon.
Aegon will personal a 15.3% stake in FTSE 100 listed Standard Life following the acquisition and might appoint one non-executive director to the mixed group’s board.
Andy Briggs, Standard Life chief government, stated: “Our agreement to acquire Aegon UK significantly accelerates our vision to be the UK’s leading retirement savings and income business.
“Together, we will not only be stronger, we will be better.”
Standard Life is known to have seen off rival bidders reminiscent of Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays to safe the deal.
Amsterdam-listed Aegon, which relies in Schiphol within the Netherlands, put its UK arm up on the market on the finish of final yr as a part of a group-wide overhaul that can see it transfer its headquarters to the US and be renamed as Transamerica.
Standard Life stated the deal – set to full across the finish of 2026 – will catapult it to second place in Britain’s retail pensions and financial savings market and in the identical place for office pensions, including Aegon UK’s 3.8 million clients and £160 billion in belongings below administration.
It is aiming to drive financial savings of £110 million a yr after the deal, with over half delivered by the top of 2029 and the remainder by the top of 2031, pushed by cuts made throughout mixed group and head workplace operations and because the pair combine their platforms.
Lard Friese, Aegon chief government, stated: “The businesses are complementary and the combination offers an excellent outcome for Aegon UK’s customers and colleagues.
“Aegon’s shareholding will provide an opportunity to participate in the future success of the enlarged group.”
Phoenix Group purchased Standard Life’s insurance coverage enterprise from the then Standard Life Aberdeen in 2018 and introduced plans to rebrand as Standard Life final yr.
It additionally has manufacturers together with SolarLife, Phoenix Life, ReAssure and Phoenix Wealth.
Panmure Liberum analyst Abid Hussain stated: “Overall, this looks like a good deal, although there will be questions on why the expense and capital synergies take five years to fully realise; we would ordinarily expect this to be achieved in three years.”
