Chesnara plc                               

Acquisition

6 April 2017                           

Completion of the acquisition of Legal & General Nederland

Following the announcements on 24 November 2016 and 30 March 2017 in connection with the proposed acquisition of Legal & General Nederland Levensverzekering Maatschappij N.V. ('Legal & General Nederland'), Chesnara plc is pleased to confirm that all remaining conditions precedent to the completion of the acquisition have now been fulfilled and the acquisition has been completed.

The total consideration paid was €161.236 million (approximately £137.809 million¹), comprising €160 million plus interest for the period to completion, of €1.236 million.

 John Deane, Chief Executive of Chesnara plc, commented:

 "Chesnara is delighted to have acquired another well-run and attractive business in the Dutch life assurance market and I am delighted to welcome the customers and employees of Legal & General Nederland to Chesnara. As with our Swedish subsidiary Movestic, we will be writing protection and pension new business and this will complement our closed book consolidation business Waard. We see great opportunities for both organisations within the Chesnara group to deliver value to our customers, their advisors and our shareholders."

Note 1:  The GBP equivalent of the consideration for Legal & General Nederland has been reported at a rate of €1.17/£. 

Enquiries

John Deane, Chief Executive, Chesnara plc - 01772 972079

Roddy Watt, FWD Consulting - 020 7280 0651 / 07714 770 493

Notes to Editors

Chesnara plc ('Chesnara'), which listed on the London Stock Exchange in May 2004, is the owner of Countrywide Assured plc ('CA plc'), Movestic Livförsäkringar AB ('Movestic') and Chesnara Holdings BV, the intermediate holding company of the 'Waard Group'.

CA plc is a UK life assurance subsidiary that is closed to new business.  In June 2005 Chesnara acquired a further closed life insurance company - City of Westminster Assurance - for £47.8m.  With effect from 30 June 2006, CWA's policies and assets were transferred into CA plc.  Save & Prosper Insurance Limited and its subsidiary, Save & Prosper Pensions Limited, were acquired on 20 December 2010 for £63.5 million.  With effect from 31 December 2011, the business of Save & Prosper was transferred into CA plc.  On 28 November 2013 Chesnara acquired Direct Line Life Insurance Company Limited (subsequently renamed Protection Life Company Limited) from Direct Line Group plc for £39.3m.  On 31 December 2014 the PL business transferred into CA plc.  CA plc operates an outsourced business model.

Movestic, a Swedish life assurance company which originally focused on pensions and savings, was acquired on 23 July 2009 for £20 million.  The company is open to new business and seeks to grow its position in the Swedish unit-linked market.  Its proposition was strengthened in February 2010 with the acquisition of the operations of Aspis Försäkringar Liv AB which has a risk and health product bias.

The Waard Group, a Netherlands-based Group comprising three closed book insurance companies and a servicing company, was acquired on 19 May 2015 for €69.9m.  The Waard Group, comprising Waard Leven N.V., Hollands Welvaren Leven N.V., Waard Schade N.V. and Tadas Verzekeringen B.V. was previously owned by DSB Beheer B.V., a Dutch financial services Group. The policy base of the Waard Group is predominantly term life policies, with some unit linked policies and some non-life policies. 

Further details are available on the Company's website (www.chesnara.co.uk).