Aegon’s UK insurance and workplace pensions business has attracted interest from several major players in the sector, reported the Financial Times.

Phoenix Group, Royal London and Scottish Widows are among the interested parties as the Dutch insurer explores a potential £2bn ($2.7bn) sale.

Private equity groups such as CVC have also shown preliminary interest in the business, sources said.

The auction is being managed by investment bankers at Goldman Sachs, with an initial bid deadline expected in the coming weeks.

Since late last year, the Netherlands-based insurer has been reviewing options for its UK insurance and workplace business, as part of a strategy to increase its activity in the US life insurance sector.

As part of this strategy, Aegon intends to adopt the Transamerica name and relocate its headquarters to the US within two years.

Aegon’s UK business has around 3.7 million customers and managed assets totalling approximately £220bn at the end of 2024.

The ongoing review is expected to wrap up in the first half of this year, the news publication added.

The division employs roughly 2,500 staff members.

Aegon has indicated that its asset management business in the UK will remain outside the scope of any prospective sale, noting its intention to continue providing investment strategies in the country.

In December, chief executive Lard Friese said any sale would be structured to “protect the value of our asset management fees that we are generating in the UK”, acknowledging that fees from the insurance side were “relatively low”.

Scottish Widows, owned by Lloyds Banking Group, has expanded through previous acquisitions such as Embark Group and Zurich’s corporate savings business in Britain.

Phoenix Group, which will change its name to Standard Life following an earlier brand acquisition, is also reported to be among those considering bids.

Royal London recently finalised its own deal for part of Aegon’s protection book, which included around 400,000 customer policies.

Aegon, CVC, Goldman Sachs, Phoenix Group, Royal London and Scottish Widows all declined to comment on developments relating to the sale process.

This review coincides with a period of heightened deal-making within the UK pensions and insurance industry.

This week saw Zurich Insurance confirm an approach to acquire Beazley in a transaction valued at $10.2bn.

Other recent deals include Chesnara’s £260m agreement to purchase HSBC Life UK and Aviva’s acquisition of AIG’s UK protection business.