Chesnara agrees to buy MetLife's closed UK life book of about 18,000 policies
The life and pensions consolidator expects the business, which holds £1.7bn of assets under administration, to generate about £90m of cash over its lifetime, with completion targeted for the first half of 2027.
By Daily Oracles News Team2 min read
Chesnara, the FTSE 250 company that buys and runs life and pensions books, has agreed with MetLife, Inc. to acquire 100% of the shares in MetLife UK Limited, the insurer's closed-book UK life company. The announcement came on Friday morning.
MetLife UK Limited stopped selling new policies in 2017. It looks after about 18,000 customers holding unit-linked investment policies with optional guarantees and variable annuities, with £1.7bn of assets under administration at 31 December 2025. MetLife's ongoing UK protection business is not included, and MetLife will continue to serve those customers.
The numbers Chesnara is working to
The price was not disclosed. Chesnara said the consideration would be subject to customary adjustments at completion and was not expected to be material.
The company put total lifetime cash flows from the book at about £90m, with around half arriving in the first five years after completion. Under its ownership and operating model, it expects the deal to add about £45m to both Own Funds and Contractual Service Margin, and to have a broadly neutral effect on its Solvency II ratio.
Administration and reinsurance
The policies are already administered by SS&C, Chesnara's existing strategic UK outsourcing partner, and Chesnara said this would make for a smooth transfer of the portfolio. An existing reinsurance arrangement with a European reinsurer rated AA by both S&P and Fitch covers the guarantee risk on the variable annuities and will stay in place after the sale.
Chesnara described the deal as its fourth acquisition in the last two years. It currently administers around 1.3 million policies through Countrywide Assured and Chesnara Life, formerly HSBC Life, in the UK, Scildon in the Netherlands and Movestic in Sweden. A separate agreement to buy Scottish Widows Europe in Luxembourg, which would add about 46,000 policies, is still awaiting regulatory approval.
The MetLife transaction is expected to complete in the first half of 2027, subject to customary regulatory approvals. Chesnara's advisers on the deal were Fenchurch Advisory Partners, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Slaughter and May.
