Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Phoenix Group, Royal London and Scottish Widows are among those circling the £2bn UK insurance business of Dutch insurer Aegon.
As well as potential strategic buyers, private equity groups such as CVC have also shown preliminary interest in the sales process ahead of an initial bid deadline in the coming weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. Investment bankers at Goldman Sachs are running the auction process.
Netherlands-based Aegon said in December that it would consider selling its UK insurance and workplace business as it sought to expand its presence in the fast-growing US life insurance market.
As part of that US push, Aegon plans to rename itself Transamerica and move its headquarters there within the next two years.
Aegon’s UK sales process is the latest sign of deal activity heating up in the pensions and insurance sector. Zurich Insurance confirmed earlier this week that it had approached Beazley, a Lloyd’s of London insurer, with a £7.7bn takeover proposal that Beazley has rejected.
Meanwhile, pension consolidator Chesnara last year announced a £260mn agreement to acquire HSBC Life UK, and Aviva in 2024 acquired the UK protection business of insurer AIG.
Aegon’s UK business sells pensions, savings and investment products to about 3.7mn customers and had about £220bn assets under administration as of the end of 2024.
The group is planning to conclude its review of the UK business, which employs about 2,500 people, in the first half of this year.
Aegon’s UK asset management operations would not be part of any divestiture, it said, since it planned to continue offering clients access to investment strategies in the UK.
Any sale would aim to “protect the value of our asset management fees that we’re generating in the UK”, chief executive Lard Friese said in December, adding that fees from Aegon’s insurance business were “relatively low”.
The next two years could “disappoint those looking for higher distribution” from Aegon, KBW analyst Michele Ballatore said in a note, “with limited growth in earnings but with de-risking efforts which will leave the group in good shape for the future, [and] almost exclusive focus on the US”.
Scottish Widows, one of the UK’s largest pension providers and part of Lloyds Banking Group, has made a couple of acquisitions over the past decade, including investment platform Embark Group and Zurich’s UK corporate savings business in 2017.
Phoenix Group, the largest retirement and savings company in the UK, will be rebranding as Standard Life after acquiring the brand from fund group Aberdeen a few years ago.
Meanwhile, Royal London acquired Aegon UK’s individual protection book, in a deal that completed in 2024 and involved the transfer of life insurance, critical illness and income protection policies for some 400,000 customers.
Goldman Sachs, Scottish Widows, Phoenix, Royal London, CVC and Aegon all declined to comment.