Slaughter and May is advising Standard Life plc (Standard life), a leading provider of long-term savings and investments, on English law aspects of the proposed disposal of its Canadian business, the related Class 1 shareholder approval and its expected return of capital (circa £1.75 billion) to shareholders by way of a B/C share scheme following completion of the transaction.

On 4 September 2014 Standard Life announced that it had entered into an agreement with The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (MLC), a subsidiary of Manulife Financial Corporation (Manulife), for the sale of its  Canadian business, comprising Standard Life's Canadian long-term savings and retirement, individual and group insurance business (Standard Life Financial Inc.) and Canadian investment management business (Standard Life Investments Inc.).

The transaction, which is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2015, represents a total cash consideration of C$4 billion (circa £2.2 billion) and is conditional upon the approval of Standard Life's shareholders and the Canadian regulatory authorities. As part of the transaction, Standard Life Investments has entered into a global collaboration agreement with Manulife.

Slaughter and May is working as a team with Standard Life's in-house legal team (including General Counsel Malcolm Wood, David Burns, Peter Tyson, Sara de Busk, Amanda Wright, Emma Fraser and Brian Taylor) and Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (including Greg Frenette, Jake Gilbert, Dawn Jetten, Stefan Timms and Natalie Bussière), which is advising Standard Life on Canadian law aspects.

CONTACTS

Corporate: Jonathan Marks (partner), Craig Cleaver (partner), Martin Hattrell (partner), James Cook (associate), Richard Hilton (associate), Thomas Peacock (associate); Tax: Gareth Miles (partner), Edward Milliner (associate).