Swiss Re confirms plans to float UK life insurance arm ReAssure

Global insurance giant Swiss Re has confirmed plans to float its UK life insurance arm ReAssure on the London Stock Exchange next month.

The Zurich-based firm said last week that it intended to place its Telford-based division onto the market.

The initial public offering would see Swiss Re selling at least 25% of shares, to have less than a 50% stake, in the business, believed to be valued at over £3 billion.

Floating the business in London will put ReAssure under a more favourable regulatory regime and give it easier access to capital to fund its expansion, Swiss Re said.

The company’s final offer price will be confirmed in “due course” ahead of the listing in July.

The price range and number of shares planned to be sold will be in the company prospectus, expected to be released in the coming weeks.

ReAssure is applying for admission of its ordinary shares on the premium listing segment of the stock exchange, with plans to trade on the main market. It is understood that the company’s size could see it enter the FTSE 250.

ReAssure buys and administers closed books for companies and has more than 4.3 million policies, with its customers’ investments totalling more than £68 billion.

The firm, which is the sixth-largest life insurance business in the UK, started as Windsor Life Insurance and employs 2,500 across five sites in the country.

It rebranded to ReAssure after it was acquired by Swiss Re in 2011.

In 2017, ReAssure bought Legal & General’s UK savings business in a £650 million deal.