Retirement group Phoenix enters £197m pensions deal with Irish Life
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Retirement group Phoenix is set to sell Ark Life Assurance Company to pensions group Irish Life for around £197m, the retirement group today.
Ark Life Assurance Company, known as Ark Life, added around £1.8bn of assets under administration to Phoenix’s heritage division as of 31 December.
The deal, which is expected to be completed by early next year, is still subject to regulatory and anti-trust approvals.
Shares opened slightly higher this morning, up 0.1 per cent to 694.6p per share.
The near £200m sale is designed to ‘simplify’ Phoenix’s European operations, the retirement group said.
It aims to redistribute the funds into “higher return growth opportunities” to boost future cash generation across its remaining European business, Standard Life International.
The Phoenix group bought the Standard Life name for its European business from Standard Life Aberdeen, now known as abrdn, back in February for some £32m.