Deutsche Bank Abbey Life arm may get offers from Phoenix and Swiss Re this week; Legal & General only interested in Abbey annuity business
The insurance companies Phoenix Group Holdings [LON:PHNX] and Swiss Re [VTX:SREN] intend to table initial offers for Deutsche Bank’s [ETR:DBK] Abbey Life arm before a bid deadline this weekend, the Financial Times reported. The newspaper cited people familiar with the matter for the information.
Deutsche Bank is close to agreeing a sale of Abbey, a UK-based life assurance firm, the item said. The newspaper cited an earlier Bloomberg report which claimed that Phoenix and Swiss Re will probably submit offers slightly exceeding the GBP 1bn (EUR 1.25bn) paid by Deutsche Bank for Abbey Life in 2007.
Separately, the report said the insurer Legal & General [LON:LGEN] is believed to be looking at acquiring only Abbey Life’s annuity business.
The Chinese insurance group Anbang has also indicated an interest in Abbey Life, the item said.
Financial Times, previously reported intelligence