The news was contained in a two-sentence statement released to the London Stock Exchange last month.
In the statement, Resolution said it would “update the market in due course”.
Resolution did not explain why it was looking to sell its AmLife stake, but industry observers note that economic and regulatory pressures are forcing Friends Life, like many European insurers at the moment, to boost its capital reserves and dispose of operations that are not generating sufficiently meaningful returns.
International expansion strategy
As reported by International Adviser in December 2008, Friends Provident, as Friends Life was then called, announced it had acquired the 30% stake in AmLife as part of its strategy to build up the international side of its business.
The deal was hailed as Friends Provident’s first overseas acquisition, and, according to then-Friends Provident chairman Adrian Montague in a statement at the time, would compliment the company’s existing operations in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Friends Provident was acquired by Resolution the following year.
Last year, Friends announced that it had successfully launched a Shariah-compliant insurance business in Malaysia, after AmLife had been conditionally granted a Takaful licence in 2010.
Under that arrangement, a newly-created entity, AmFamily Takaful Berhad, would manufacture and sell Shariah-compliant family Takaful business, subject to final approval from the Malaysian regulator.
Initial paid-up capital of AmFamily Takaful was reported to be RM100m ($31m), of which Friends Life was to contribute RM30m and AmBank the remaining RM70m.
