Standard Life shareholders approve Phoenix deal

Shareholders have approved Standard Life Aberdeen’s £3 billion sale of its UK and European insurance arm to Phoenix Group.

The deal won backing at SLA’s general meeting yesterday where it was also announced that pensions and savings business chief executive Barry O’Dwyer and global distribution head Campbell Fleming will join the Phoenix board once the acquisition deal completes.

The meeting in Edinburgh saw 99.26 per cent of shareholders vote in favour of the deal that will see SLA investors enjoy a £1.75bn windfall from the sale of the “capital intensive” life assurance arm.

Also approved was a plan to return £1 billion to shareholders through a “B share scheme” and £750m through a share buyback programme.

Welcoming shareholder backing for the deal which SLA first announced in February, chair Gerry Grimstone said: “I’m pleased our shareholders have voted so decisively in favour of our proposals. The sale of our UK and European insurance business to Phoenix is an important milestone in our company’s history and marks a decisive break from our past as an insurer.”

Also addressed at the meeting was the running row between SLA and Lloyds Banking Group which those assembled were told may rumble on until the end of this year before a resolution can be found through an arbitration process.

The stand-off is a result of Lloyds, SLA’s biggest client, pulling £109bn worth of business out of SLA, having cited competition issues arising from last year’s merger of Aberdeen Asset Management and Standard Life.

The plan to axe partnership deals for Lloyds-owned Scottish Widows and LBG Wealth is at the centre of a dispute process announced by SLA in May.

An exit by Scottish Widows and LBG Wealth at the end of a 12-month notice period would remove nearly 17 per cent from SLA’s total assets under management as of September 30 2017, when they were worth £646.2bn.

SLA has said LBG, whose businesses also include Bank of Scotland, is locked into their long-term asset management partnership.

But LBG has insisted contractual terms of its previous relationship with AAM allow it to terminate its investment management agreements as Standard Life was a “material competitor”.