Life insurance provider Phoenix is on the brink of closing a deal that would see it buy the Standard Life brand.
The buy-out follows Phoenix’s acquisition of Standard Life Aberdeen’s (SLA) life arm in February 2018.
SLA chief executive Stephen Bird is close to agreeing a deal, under the code name ‘Project Hulkum’, which would see the firm’s flagship brands being bought by Phoenix, Sky News reported.
A person close to the life insurer said the transaction could be announced within days.
The deal would form part of a restructured agreement between the two businesses including the extension of their asset management partnership, which they first inked in 2018.
The sale could see SLA drop its name and either dispose of or change the Aberdeen Standard Investments brand, created through the merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management in 2017.
The name modification is unlikely to take place immediately, but it is expected to be confirmed later in 2021. The financial terms of the deal remain unknown.
International Adviser contacted SLA and Phoenix Group but both companies declined to comment.
