Phoenix sells Ark Life to Irish Life for £197m

UK insurer Phoenix Group on Tuesday said it had sold its Dublin-based Ark Life Assurance unit to Irish Life for €230m (£197m) as it started to streamline its European operations.

“This transaction simplifies our European operations and accelerates the cash release from this business. The group expects to redeploy the capital into higher return growth opportunities to drive incremental future cash generation,” the company said in a statement.

Ark Life is a closed book business with £1.8bn under management which manages heritage savings and protection products in Ireland, and was acquired by Phoenix as part of the ReAssure acquisition from SwissRe in 2020. Ark Life contributed £1.8bn of assets under administration to Phoenix's Heritage division at December 31, 2020.

Irish Life already operates Ark Life's policy administration and investment management under an outsourcing agreement.

Phoenix said last month it was no longer in talks to sell its European businesses, following a Sky News report about a potential sale for around 550 million pounds to European Life Group.

The sale of Ark Life will leave Phoenix's European operations with Standard Life International, which was brought under Phoenix after it acquired the insurance business of Standard Life Aberdeen, now called abrdn, in 2018. Phoenix said it continued to progress “a range of management actions to maximise shareholder value from its remaining European business".