Aviva To Sell Stake In Life Insurance JV To Societe Generale Unit For £425 Mln

(RTTNews) - British life and health insurer Aviva Plc (AV.L, AV) announced Thursday the sale of its entire 50% shareholding in life insurance joint venture Antarius to Sogecap, a subsidiary of French lender Societe Generale SA (SCGLF.PK, SCGLY.PK), for a consideration of approximately 425 million pounds or 500 million euros.

The consideration is payable in cash upon completion. Antarius is currently owned jointly by Aviva and Crédit du Nord, a separate subsidiary of Société Générale, and this agreement follows Crédit du Nord's decision in 2015 to exercise its option to purchase Aviva's shareholding in Antarius. The transaction price is approximately 180 million pounds above Aviva's IFRS book value. In addition, Aviva Investors France has entered into a new agreement with Sogecap to continue managing in excess of 10 billion euros assets held by Antarius. The company noted that all regulatory approvals for the transaction have been received. The completion of the sale is expected on April 1. No Aviva employees will be affected following deal, the company said.

It was in 2004 that Aviva acquired a 50% shareholding in Antarius in a 12-year distribution agreement to sell life insurance and protection products on an exclusive basis via Crédit du Nord's network. Under the terms of the agreement, Crédit du Nord had an option to purchase Aviva's shareholding in Antarius.