Legal & General Group is selling Suffolk Life, the Sipp provider and administrator, to Curtis Banks Group plc for £45 million.
The acquisition is subject to an underwritten placing by Curtis Banks Group plc, and regulatory approval, both of which are expected in the first half of 2016.
Suffolk Life specialises in Sipps, and administers around 26,500 plans, including 3,600 commercial properties. Assets under administration were £8.7 billion as at 30th November 2015. The business was established in 1971 and is based in Ipswich.
Legal & General is disposing of non-core businesses, and focusing on core activities where it believes it can achieve significant scale and attractive returns on capital. It disposed of Legal & General France, Legal & General Ireland and Egypt in 2015.
L&G group chief finance officer Mark Gregory says: “Legal & General is delighted to have played a part in the success of Suffolk Life. It is a great business, but it is not core to our focused strategy going forward. Teaming up with Curtis Banks will help it to realise its strong potential, by creating one of the UK’s largest SIPP providers.”
Curtis Banks Group executive chairman Chris Banks says: “We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Suffolk Life which accelerates our strategy of becoming the leading full SIPP provider in the UK. Suffolk Life is one of the oldest and most respected brands in the SIPP industry, with an excellent reputation for service and professionalism. We are delighted that Legal & General has chosen us to take ownership of this business and believe this reflects our strong standing and market reputation.”