Chesnara has agreed to acquire Scottish Widows Europe, a closed life insurance company based in Luxembourg, in a deal valued at $130.2m (£95.97m).
The Luxembourg business was acquired from Scottish Widows, part of Lloyds Banking Group.
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This move marks Chesnara’s entry into the Luxembourg market and will help it add policyholders in Germany, Austria and Italy.
The UK-listed life and pensions consolidator will fund the transaction using its existing cash resources.
According to Chesnara, the acquisition is projected to generate around €250m in cash flow from the policies currently held by Scottish Widows Europe, with around €100m expected within the first five years following completion.
The company will take on approximately 46,000 active policies and €1.7bn in assets under administration as a result of the deal.
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By GlobalDataThe agreed price equates to 0.64-times the 2024 forecast Own Funds of Scottish Widows Europe, which stand at €173m.
Finalisation of the deal is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected around the end of 2026.
Scottish Widows Europe will continue as a stand-alone operation led by its current local management team. The business uses an outsourced model for technology and administration services, provided by Lifeware.
Chesnara’s stated focus remains on bringing together life and pension businesses across both the UK and European markets while also maintaining new business activity in Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK.
The company completed its acquisition of HSBC Life (UK) in January 2026.
Chesnara CEO Steve Murray said: “We are delighted to announce Chesnara’s second significant acquisition in the past 12 months. Scottish Widows Europe is another material and value-accretive transaction with a product set that we know well. It marks our entry into Luxembourg, providing a new platform for in-market and wider European consolidation and expansion.
“We are pleased that another major financial institution, Lloyds Banking Group, has chosen us to look after their policyholders. We look forward to welcoming Scottish Widows Europe policyholders and new colleagues to Chesnara.”
