By Lars Mucklejohn
Phoenix Group, the UK’s largest long-term savings and retirement business, has revealed that it will explore a possible sale of its Sunlife business.
The FTSE 100 firm, which also owns insurer Standard Life, announced on Wednesday that following a strategic review, it had concluded that the unit is “no longer core to the delivery of its vision of becoming the UK’s leading retirement savings and income business”.
The firm added that the board has chosen to begin a sale process, having already received “a number of initial expressions of interest” from third parties.
Phoenix stressed that there is no certainty at this stage that the business will be sold.
The group struck a deal to buy Sunlife and the rest of French firm Axa’s UK investment, pensions and insurance businesses for £375m in 2016.
Phoenix later acquired the Standard Life brand in 2021, signalling its entry into the consumer market. Previously, the firm had bought up closed pension funds which were not open to new entrants, nicknamed “zombie funds”.
Sunlife is a major provider of financial protection products, including life insurance, directly to Britons aged over 50. The business also offers equity release, funeral plans and home insurance.
The division reported a profit after tax of £16m in 2023.
Phoenix has 12m customers and more than £280bn of assets under management. Its latest annual results showed adjusted operating profit jumped 13 per cent in 2023 to £617m, driven by “strong growth” in its pensions and savings business.
In February, Phoenix hit its 2025 target for long-term cash generation – a key measure of future profitability – two years early. Total cash generation in 2023 was just over £2bn, exceeding its upgraded target of around £1.8bn.
