Parent Of Utmost Wealth Acquires Generali Business, Widens Footprint

Tom Burroughes

18 December 2017

, creating an expanded wealth offering with total client assets of over €24 billion ($28.2 billion).

The acquisition is subject to customary regulatory and competition authority approvals and expected to be completed in the first half of 2018, LCC said in a statement. LCCG, founded in 2013, is a specialist life assurance group; it has so far bought eight business in Ireland and the Isle of Man. It is backed by funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management.

The financial price of the acquisition wasn't disclosed.

Generali PanEurope’s wealth protection, investment planning and employee benefits business will be combined with Utmost’s existing international savings, protection and investment solutions offering. Once the deal is complete, the purchased business will adopt the Utmost Wealth Solutions name.

Utmost and GPE focus on the same product areas, while GPE’s presence in continental Europe and Utmost’s focus on the UK and Asia will widen the overall offering for clients and advisors, the statement said. The combined business will have “significant operations in Ireland and the Isle of Man”.

The statement said the acquisition will bring about an “enhanced distribution network that will serve high and ultra-high net worth, affluent and retail wealth management clients through IFAs, multi-tied agents, private banks, asset managers and family offices”.

At Utmost Wealth, total policy-holder assets are currently around €13 billion. At GPE, total policyholder assets are currently around €11 billion.

In July, Utmost Wealth Solutions completed its acquisition of Axa Life Europe's investment bond business and opened a new office in Dublin. The Axa Life Europe portfolio was acquired by Harcourt Life International, which was subsequently renamed Utmost Ireland and will trade under the Utmost Wealth Solutions brand.

The transaction appears to be another example of a trend of M&A deals in European wealth management, with firms seeking scale to preserve an edge at a time of rising regulatory costs, while others are spinning off operations seen as non-core to concentrate on areas where they can achieve profitable growth.