Legal & General To Sell Dutch Business

Josh O'Neill

25 November 2016

will sell its Netherlands business to Chesnara, a European pensions consolidator, for €160 million ($169.1 million), in a deal expected to “marginally improve” the first group's coverage ratio while generating a small profit.

Established in 1984 and headquartered in Hilversum, Legal & General's Dutch operation offers advisor-led risk and investment-linked products, through independent financial advisors serving high net worth clients. Additionally, the company has a pension platform focused on Dutch small and medium enterprises.

It has €2.2 billion of funds under management and more than 170,000 policyholders, Legal & General said in a statement.

“Our strategy is focused on having scalable businesses in growth markets,” said Mark Gregory, Legal & General's chief financial officer. “As a consequence, over the last two years, we have disposed of a number of operations we no longer regard as core, including our Irish, French, Egyptian and Gulf businesses, and now we are doing the same with our Dutch business.”

John Deane, chief executive of Chesnara, said: “As with our Swedish subsidiary Movestic, we will be writing protection and pension policies. We see great opportunities for both organisations within the Chesnara group to deliver value to our customers, their advisors and our shareholders.”

The deal is subject to regulatory approval.