Yahoo News Countrywide owner Chesnara in talks to buy L&G's Dutch arm
The London-listed owner of Countrywide Assured is in advanced talks to buy an overseas unit of Legal & General (LSE: LGEN.L - news) (L&G) in the latest example of European insurance industry consolidation.
Sky News has learnt that Chesnara (LSE: CSN.L - news) , which has a market value of just over £400m, is expected to pay around £130m for L&G's Dutch operations.
The division is understood to have been designated as non-core by L&G's board, and accounts for a small fraction of the FTSE-100 company's business.
A sale, which sources said was expected to be announced later this week, would continue a European retrenchment by Nigel Wilson, L&G's chief executive, following disposals in France and Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) .
Mr Wilson has instead been ploughing capital into long-term infrastructure opportunities and insuring corporate pension liabilities such as a £1.1bn scheme managed by Rolls-Royce Holdings.
For Chesnara, the deal will represent a significant bet on the expansion of its Dutch operations, which account for a small part of its portfolio.
It also manages closed life and pension books in the UK and Sweden, and counts L&G's asset management arm among its largest shareholders.
Analysts said that Chesnara was likely to seek new capital from investors to back such an acquisition.
The transaction between Chesnara and L&G follows a string of deals involving major European insurance companies including Aegon (Swiss: AGN.SW - news) and Axa (Paris: FR0000120628 - news) in recent months.
L&G declined to comment, while Chesnara could not be reached for comment.
