Your IndustryAug 3 2018

Swiss Re looks to float UK closed life book arm

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Swiss Re looks to float UK closed life book arm

Swiss Re is planning to float its UK unit, which manages the closed books of life assurance companies, in a bid to take advantage of the number of opportunities in the market.

The Zurich-based company is looking to hold an initial public offering of shares in ReAssure next year.

The company stated: "Given the size of potential opportunities that are expected to come up in the market over the mid-term, it is important for ReAssure to have access to substantial new capital to acquire additional closed books."

Last year Japanese insurance company MS&AD Insurance paid £175m for a 5 per cent stake in ReAssure, which would value the whole company at £3.5bn.

A few months later ReAssure spent £650m on buying Legal & General's mature savings business, which has assets of £33bn and included both unit-linked business and L&G's £21.4bn with profits fund.

ReAssure is expected to be listed in the UK and Swiss Re said it intends to remain a "significant" shareholder in the business.

The unit has more than 2.3 million policies on its books and it looks after investments of more than £44bn.

damian.fantato@ft.com