Phoenix is buying the Standard Life brand off Standard Life Aberdeen in a deal that sees its SLAL UK investment and platform-related products move in the other direction.
Phoenix had used the Standard Life brand for its workplace pensions business following the 2018 deal between the two organisations under a client service and proposition agreement (CSPA) that covered a range of marketing and product development services. That agreement will now be dissolved.
The SLAL UK business that moves to SLA comprises the Wrap Self Invested Personal Pension (Wrap Sipp), Onshore Bond and UK Trustee Investment Plan (TIP).
At the same time, Phoenix is re-committing to a 10-year strategic asset management partnership with Aberdeen Standard Investments.
Phoenix acquires full ownership of the Standard Life brand which has a heritage in the pensions and savings market dating back almost 200 years. This will mean that the products offered by Standard Life Assurance will continue to be marketed under the Standard Life brand.
Phoenix will continue to invest in the Standard Life brand which will be used for its open business within the retirement and savings market. Phoenix says the acquisition of the Standard Life brand gives it full control over the end-to-end customer experience and will accelerate further enhancements Phoenix has planned for advisers and their clients. Phoenix adds that acquiring the Standard Life should support overall open business growth.
As part of this agreement, a number of marketing, retail adviser distribution and data team members will move from Standard Life Aberdeen to Phoenix organisation to continue to support its Workplace and Customer Savings and Investments (CS&I) teams. They will mainly be based at operations in Edinburgh.
Phoenix will receive £115m of cash consideration and ownership of the Standard Life brand. The majority of the cash consideration is payable upon announcement of the transaction while completion of the sale of the investment and platform related products will be effected through a Part VII transfer targeted in 2022.
Phoenix Group CEO Andy Briggs says: “This agreement is a natural progression of our strong Strategic Partnership with SLA and significantly simplifies our relationship.
I am delighted that Phoenix now owns all of the Life and Pensions business of Standard Life, including the brand and all distribution and marketing, and we are committed to investing in this business. This will enable Phoenix to accelerate the delivery of a broader set of product and service propositions to meet the financial needs of our customers as they journey to and through retirement. This is therefore a key enabler of our Open business growth strategy and will support the delivery of incremental new business long-term cash generation.”
Standard Life Aberdeen CEO Stephen Bird says: “This agreement builds on the strong foundations of our long-standing relationship with Phoenix.”
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