27th May 2014 06:29
LONDON (Alliance News) - Private equity firm Blackstone and US-based specialist insurer Philadelphia Financial will make a joint offer for Friends Life Group Ltd's tax planning arm, Sky News reported Friday.
Earlier in May, Friends Life, the FTSE 100 financial services group, said discussions were ongoing over the sale of Lombard.
According to the Sky News report, another private equity group, Permira, is also expected to bid for Lombard, though Warburg Pincus's interest has cooled.
Last November, Friends Life, then known as Resolution Ltd, said it was in talks to sell its Lombard division, which is made up of Lombard International Assurance SA and Insurance Development Holdings AG, though it cautioned that there was no certainty of a transaction being agreed.
Citing insiders, the Sky News report said that Friends Life was also likely to consider the sale of Friends Provident International, which provides life assurance, pensions and investment products for Asia, the Middle East, Europe, the UK and other markets.
The report said that Blackstone, Permira and Friends Life all declined to comment on Friday.
http://news.sky.com/story/1267911/blackstone-in-joint-bid-for-friends-tax-arm
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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