The founder of Friends Life has made his largest acquisition for nearly a decade with the £1.8bn purchase of an Australian life business.
Sir Clive Cowdery's London-based Resolution Life has agreed to buy the life business of Australian financial services business AMP.
Resolution Life and AMP have reached an agreement whereby the assets under management will continue to be run by AMP Capital, which will join Resolution Life's panel of preferred asset managers.
Sir Clive said: "Resolution Life is delighted to be partnering with AMP on this transaction. We have great respect for the long and proud history of AMP’s life insurance business in Australia and New Zealand.
"Over 15 years and the acquisition of 27 life insurance companies, Resolution has developed an operating model which puts delivering policyholder benefits to existing customers at the centre of our business.
"The acquisition of AMP Life is consistent with our strategy to grow the business beyond our traditional markets in Europe and the United States and we see scope for further consolidation in the Australian life market."
As part of the deal Resolution Life will pay A$3.45bn (£1.8bn) and the acquisition is expected to go ahead in the second half of 2019.
Sir Clive founded Resolution in 2004, which consolidated a number of zombie funds, including the life businesses of Abbey National, Royal & SunAlliance and Swiss Life UK, before being taken over by Pearl Group in 2008.
He went on to found Friends Life by merging Friends Provident, Axa's UK life business and Bupa before selling it to Aviva in 2015.
damian.fantato@ft.com
