SWISS RE IN £333M PURCHASE OF LIFE ASSURANCE HOLDING CORP IN UK

UK-based Life Assurance Holding Corp (LAHC) is to be bought by Swiss Re for £333m. LAHC unit Windsor Life administers more than 800,000 policies with total assets of about £5.2bn. LAHC, which is closely held and had been a joint venture between New York Life Worldwide and Sir Mark Weinberg’s St James’s Place Capital, has been up for sale for several years. It was initially set up in 1995 as a “vulture” life operation that bought existing books of business with the aim of managing them more effectively. Swiss Re will run the business through Admin Re, which buys books of life assurance and administers them until they expire.