Phoenix Group Holdings has agreed to divest Ark Life Assurance Company to Irish Life Group in a deal valued at €230m.
Ark Life Assurance Company is a closed book business, which manages heritage savings and protection products in Ireland.
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It was formed in 1991 as a bank assurance subsidiary of Allied Irish Bank.
British insurance giant Phoenix Group Holdings acquired it in 2020 as part of its acquisition of ReAssure Group.
As of 31 December 2020, the Ark Life Assurance Company contributed £1.8bn of assets under administration to Phoenix’s Heritage division.
Phoenix Group said: “This transaction simplifies our European operations and accelerates the cash release from this business.
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By GlobalData“The Group expects to redeploy the capital into higher return growth opportunities to drive incremental future cash generation.”
The deal is expected to close by early 2022, subject to regulatory and antitrust approval.
Phoenix Group noted that the deal value represents 0.91x Solvency II Own Funds and is payable on completion.
Concurrently, Phoenix Group said that it is taking the required steps to maximise shareholder value from its remaining European business, Standard Life International DAC.p
Last month, Swiss Re divested a portion of its shareholding in Phoenix Group for £437m.
The reinsurance firm now holds an approximately 6.6% stake in Phoenix Group.
