European life and pensions consolidator, Chesnara, is to acquire 100% of the share capital of MetLife Group’s closed-book UK life insurance company, MetLife UK Limited (MLUK).

MLUK manages around 18,000 customer policies with £1.7bn of assets under administration.

MetLife’s ongoing UK protection business is not included in the acquisition.

Steve Murray, group CEO of Chesnara, commented: “We are pleased to announce our fourth acquisition in the last two years. The transaction adds further scale and diversification to our UK business as well as an estimated £90m of lifetime cashflows.

“MLUK’s closed-book portfolio is an excellent fit with our existing UK operations and, with its administration provided by SS&C, already closely aligns with our operating model. The transaction is a further demonstration that Chesnara is a consolidation partner of choice for blue-chip counterparties. We continue to see a healthy pipeline of M&A opportunities and are highly confident in our ability to continue to execute transactions on attractive terms for our investors”.

The transaction is expected to complete during the first half of 2027, subject to customary regulatory approvals.

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