31st Jul 2007 07:02
Lloyds TSB Group PLC31 July 2007 94/07 31 July 2007 LLOYDS TSB ANNOUNCES THE SALE OF ABBEY LIFE TO DEUTSCHE BANK Lloyds TSB Group plc today announces that its subsidiary Scottish Widows plc hasreached agreement to sell Abbey Life Assurance Company Limited ("Abbey Life") toDeutsche Bank AG for a cash consideration of £977 million, upon completion.This represents 104 per cent of Abbey Life's European Embedded Value ('EEV')(£941 million) as at 30 June 2007. Abbey Life's IFRS net assets at the samedate totalled £673 million. Profit before tax from the sale, after costs, ofapproximately £290 million (tax: nil), less any accrued profits prior tocompletion, is expected to be recognised in Lloyds TSB Group's accounts for theyear ended 31 December 2007. The transaction is conditional upon regulatoryapproval, with completion expected in the second half of 2007. Abbey Life, a subsidiary of Scottish Widows, is a UK life operation which hasbeen closed to new business since 2000. As at 31 December 2006, Abbey Lifemanaged £12 billion of assets in respect of 1.2 million policies. In the yearended 31 December 2006, Abbey Life's attributable profit, on an IFRS basis, was£76 million. Scottish Widows Investment Partnership has entered into a ten year agreement tocontinue to manage Abbey Life's funds. Eric Daniels, Group Chief Executive, Lloyds TSB Group commented: "We conducted a review of Abbey Life and came to the conclusion that a sale ofthe business is in the best interest of the Group, as well as Abbey Life'spolicyholders and staff. We expect the proceeds of the sale, net of costs, to be distributed fromScottish Widows to Lloyds TSB Group in line with Lloyds TSB's objective tocontinue to improve its capital efficiency." Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisers to Lloyds TSB onthis transaction. For further information:- Investor Relations Michael Oliver +44 (0) 20 7356 2167 Director of Investor Relations Email: [email protected] Media Mary Walsh +44 (0) 20 7356 2121 Director of Corporate Relations Email: [email protected] FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS This announcement contains forward looking statements with respect to thebusiness, strategy and plans of the Lloyds TSB Group and its current goals andexpectations relating to its future financial condition and performance.Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Lloyds TSBGroup's or management's beliefs and expectations, are forward lookingstatements. By their nature, forward looking statements involve risk anduncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that willoccur in the future. Lloyds TSB Group's actual future results may differmaterially from the results expressed or implied in these forward lookingstatements as a result of a variety of factors, including UK domestic and globaleconomic and business conditions, risks concerning borrower credit quality,market related risks such as interest rate risk and exchange rate risk in itsbanking businesses and equity risk in its insurance businesses, inherent risksregarding changing demographic developments, catastrophic weather and similarcontingencies outside Lloyds TSB Group's control, any adverse experience ininherent operational risks, any unexpected developments in regulation orregulatory actions, changes in customer preferences, competition, industryconsolidation, acquisitions and other factors. For more information on theseand other factors, please refer to Lloyds TSB Group's Annual Report on Form 20-Ffiled with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and to any subsequentreports furnished by Lloyds TSB Group to the US Securities and ExchangeCommission or to the London Stock Exchange. The forward looking statementscontained in this announcement are made as of the date hereof, and Lloyds TSBGroup undertakes no obligation to update any of its forward looking statements. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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