LV= had entered into an agreement with Allianz in 2017 to create UK’s third-largest personal insurer
Allianz acquires general insurance arm of LV=. Credit: Pete Linforth/Pixabay.
UK-based insurance company Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society (LV=) has completed the sale of its general insurance business to German insurance firm Allianz Group for £1.078bn.
Liverpool Victoria had entered into an agreement with Allianz in 2017 to create UK’s third-largest personal insurer.
Details of the deal between Allianz and LV=
Initially, Allianz had acquired a 49% stake in LV’s general insurance business for £500m.
The German company was due to purchase another 20.9% stake in the joint venture, leaving LV= with remaining 30.1% shareholding f006Fr which it had a put option that could result in the sale of its remaining shares. Later, LV= decided to exercise this option, selling its remaining 51% stake for £578m.
LV=’s outgoing chief executive Richard Rowney had guided the sale of the general insurance business.
While stepping down, Rowney said: “After 13 memorable years with LV= and the successful sale of our general insurance business to Allianz, now felt like the appropriate time to step aside and seek a new opportunity outside of the society.
“Our members continue to enjoy the benefits of being part of a strong and successful mutual organisation and I look back with pride at the strong and trusted brand that our people have worked so passionately to create.”
In May 2019, Allianz UK had also acquired a 100% stake in Legal & General Insurance, the general insurance business of Legal & General Group, for £242m.
The two deals were expected to place the company in the second position in general insurance in the UK, with a combined gross written premium of £4.02bn and a market share of 9%.
LV General Insurance Group CEO Steve Treloar had said: “Over the last few years, we’ve successfully grown our business to become a major household name and the addition of Legal & General’s general insurance business further strengthens our position.
“Once the business transfers to LV GIG we’ll have over 7 million personal lines customers, a gross written premium of over £2 billion and be a major player in the UK personal lines market.”
LV= serves more than 5.8 million customers with a range of financial products.