Royal London offloads subsidiary for £4.8 million

All-cash transaction involves pension business

Royal London offloads subsidiary for £4.8 million

Insurance News

By Terry Gangcuangco

The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited, the UK’s largest mutual life insurance and pensions company, is selling one of its subsidiaries to the tune of £4.8 million.

Upon completion, most likely within the month, the all-cash deal will see XPS Pensions Group Plc become the new owner of RL Corporate Pension Services Limited (RLCPS). As part of the transaction, 46 RLCPS employees will transfer to the XPS office in Edinburgh.

RLCPS provides actuarial, consulting, and administration services to 150 defined benefit pension schemes which cover 8,000 scheme members.

“We are very pleased to have reached agreement with XPS,” commented Isobel Langton, chief executive of intermediary at Royal London. “It has been paramount for us in this process to find a partner who can provide a fantastic service to RLCPS’s clients both now and into the future as the regulatory challenges these clients face will only increase.

“We are confident that these clients will benefit from XPS’s UK pensions market knowledge, and the technology and expertise that they can bring to bear. At the same time, we feel that XPS, with its strong employee culture, is a fantastic home for transferring employees.”

For XPS co-CEO Paul Cuff, the acquisition is consistent with their strategic focus on becoming the UK’s “pre-eminent” pensions consultancy. Snapping up the Royal London subsidiary is set to improve the buyer’s capability and offerings to smaller pension schemes.

“We see this as particularly important, given the increasing need for smaller pension schemes to have access to high-quality advice and technology-enabled solutions in a cost-effective way,” said Cuff. “We welcome our new clients and our new colleagues to our business.”

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