National Australia Bank Sells UK Life Subsidiary - 4 December 2003
London: National Australia Bank Limited has today announced the sale of its UK life insurance subsidiary, National Australia Life Company Limited (NAL), to Century Life plc (Century).
The sale follows the announcement earlier this year of the National's strategic alliance with Legal & General, which now provides life insurance products and administrative services to customers of the National's three UK banks, the Clydesdale, Yorkshire and Northern Banks.
National's European Chief Executive John Stewart said the introduction of the Legal & General life insurance products and the sale of NAL were two key steps in the National's organic growth strategy.
"The sale of NAL means the National will be able to bring greater focus to our core capabilities of customer relationship management and distribution, and drive real value from our strategic alliance with Legal & General. Our UK customer base is a significant market for life insurance and we are already seeing great results from the Legal & General offering."
Head of the National's European life insurance operations, Annette Petchey, said: "Legal & General are one of the UK's strongest life insurance brands and our agreement with them enables us to offer our customers a flexible and competitive suite of products backed up by superb customer service.
"For existing NAL customers, there will be no change to the terms and conditions of their policies, and Century Life are committed to maintaining the same high levels of customer service."
As a result of the sale, Century will be responsible for the administration of all existing NAL policies and intend to merge the business of NAL into Century during the course of next year. The National will work with Century to assist them with the transition of ownership of NAL.
The sale is expected to be completed on 31 December 2003. The sale price is not disclosed, but represents a premium to the embedded value of the business.
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The National was advised by Lazard & Co., Limited ("Lazard") regarding both the sale of NAL and the strategic alliance with Legal & General. Lazard is acting for National Australia Bank Limited in connection with the sale and the strategic alliance and no-one else, and will not be responsible to anyone other than National Australia Bank Limited for providing the protections offered to clients of Lazard, nor for providing advice in relation to the sale and the strategic alliance.
About the National
The National Australia Bank Limited group is an international financial services group operating across four continents and 15 countries including Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Asia. As at 30 September 2003, the National had total assets of £168 billion (AUD 397 billion), assets under management and administration of over £31 billion (AUD 73 billion), assets under custody and investment administration of £131 billion (AUD 311 billion), almost eight million banking and more than 2.8 million wealth management customers globally.
Members of the group in Europe include Clydesdale Bank PLC in Glasgow, Yorkshire Bank PLC in Leeds, Northern Bank Limited in Belfast and National Irish Bank Limited in Dublin. The National's UK operations also include its Wealth Management Europe division, which provides financial planning, investments and insurance services to customers of its UK banks, as well as portfolio implementation systems and business consulting to the UK's independent financial advisers.
About Century Life
Century Group Ltd, of which Century Life plc is a subsidiary, was formed in 1984 to acquire life assurance companies and blocks of life assurance business in the UK. Century Group Ltd has made a number of acquisitions including Sentinel Life, National Employers Life and Old Mutual Life Assurance UK as well as the UK business of Mutual Life and Citizens. Currently it holds some £2 billion of assets and maintains 250,000 policies.
For further information:
Samantha Evans
Wealth Management
National Australia Bank
Mobile: 0418 143 103