Slaughter and May acted for SLA on the sale of its capital-intensive insurance business to Phoenix. The total consideration upon completion will be £3.24 billion, including £2.28 billion in cash and a 19.99% shareholding in Phoenix. The sale is conditional upon the approval of SLA’s shareholders at a General Meeting, and certain other conditions.      

The sale involves the disposal of Standard Life Assurance Limited, with SLA retaining its UK retail platforms and financial advice business. The businesses transferring to Phoenix as part of the sale include the UK Mature Retail and Spread/risk books and the Europe, UK Retail and Workplace businesses.

This transaction will complete SLA’s transformation to a capital light investment business, a process started in 2010 with the sale of Standard Life Bank, continuing with the sale of its Canadian business and the merger last year between Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management. Slaughter and May advised on each of these transactions.

Slaughter and May, led by corporate partner, Jonathan Marks, worked closely alongside SLA's internal legal team, which was led by Rushad Abadan, Group General Counsel and supported by Sara De Busk, Head of General Counsel’s Office; Benjamin Brust, Senior Legal Counsel; and Gayle Bacchus, Legal Counsel. CMS conducted due diligence on behalf of SLA.
Contacts

Corporate and Commercial: Jonathan Marks (partner), Craig Cleaver (partner), Paul Mudie (partner), Nick Pacheco (associate), Heather Fleming (associate), Panashi Devchand (associate), Richard Hilton (associate), Jack Gray (associate), Francesca Parker (associate), Usman Sawar (associate), Zahra Haji (trainee)

Financial Regulation: Nick Bonsall (partner), Kristina Locmele  (associate)

Competition: Anna Lyle-Smythe (partner), Murray Reeve (associate), Sophia Haq (associate)

IP&IT: David Ives (partner), Michaela Peck (associate)

Pensions and Employment: Sandeep Maudgil (partner), Daniel Schaffer (partner), Simon Clark (associate)

Tax: Gareth Miles (partner), Ed Milliner (senior counsel)

Financing: Stephen Powell (partner), Charlie McGarel-Groves (associate)

Dispute Resolution: Deborah Finkler (partner), Ewan Brown (partner), Marcus Field (associate)

Real Estate: Jane Edwarde (partner), Gemma Goddard (associate)