Bupa, the international healthcare group, today announced the proposed sale of its UK protection and risk business, Bupa Health Assurance Ltd (BHA), to Resolution Ltd, a leading UK financial services business, for £165.15m, representing 79% of the forecast embedded value at completion on a Bupa basis. The sale is subject to regulatory approval.
The decision to sell BHA reflects Bupa's intention to focus on its healthcare businesses, including its health insurance products and services in the UK.
Dr Natalie-Jane Macdonald, Managing Director, Bupa Health & Wellbeing, the parent company for BHA, said:We are proud of Bupa Individual Protection and Bupa Group Risk, which both have reputations for high-quality products and customer service. Our decision to sell is based on strategic fit. The sale will allow Bupa Individual Protection and Bupa Group Risk to benefit from belonging to a company with a strong focus on both protection and risk. Importantly, this decision also allows Bupa to concentrate on healthcare products and services.
Bupa is in the process of contacting customers and distributors about the proposed sale to ensure a smooth transition through the change in ownership. As part of the agreement, all employees at Bupa Group Risk and Bupa Individual Protection will transfer to Friends Provident, part of Resolution.
In addition to the proposed sale of BHA, and in the context of Bupa's general review of its distribution arrangements, Friends Provident and Bupa have agreed to work together to explore ways in which Friends Provident can introduce the Bupa private medical insurance product to its distribution channels and markets and Bupa can introduce the Friends Provident insurance products to its distribution channels and markets.
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Contact Us
For more information contact:
Media:
Melissa Downing, Head of Corporate Communications, Bupa
+44-20-7656-2646 / melissa.downing@bupa.com
Bondholders/Analysts:
Gareth Evans, Group Treasurer, Bupa
+44-20-7656-2316 / gareth.evans@bupa.com
About Bupa
Bupa's purpose is to help people lead longer, healthier, happier
lives. A leading international healthcare group, we offer personal
and company health insurance, run care homes for older people and
hospitals, and provide workplace health services, health
assessments and chronic disease management services, including
health coaching, and home healthcare.
With no shareholders, we invest our profits to provide more and better healthcare. We are committed to making quality, patient-centred, affordable healthcare more accessible in the areas of wellness, chronic disease management and ageing.
Employing over 50,000 people, Bupa has operations around the world, principally in the UK, Australia, Spain, New Zealand and the USA, as well as Hong Kong, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, India, China and across Latin America. For more information, visit www.bupa.com.
About Bupa Health Assurance
Bupa Health Assurance's businesses include Bupa Group Risk and
Bupa Individual Protection. Bupa Group Risk provides companies with
tailored packages that offer income protection, critical illness
and life insurance to their employees, while Bupa Individual
Protection offers the same products to individuals.
About Resolution
Resolution's objective is to acquire businesses and provide the
public markets with a series of restructuring opportunities in the
financial services industry in the UK and Western Europe. Its
current restructuring project is in the UK life and asset
management sectors.
The Company's ordinary shares were admitted to the Official List and to trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in December 2008. The Company transferred to a Premium Listing as it completed its first acquisition, Friends Provident Group plc, on 4 November 2009 and is subject to those provisions of the Listing Rules that apply to overseas companies with a Premium Listing. The Company announced the completion of its second acquisition, the majority of the AXA UK life business, on 15 September 2010.
About Friends Provident
Since November 2009 Friends Provident has been part of the
Resolution group of companies. In September 2010 the enlarged
Friends Provident group was created with the merger of Friends
Provident and the majority of AXA's UK life businesses.
The group can trace its origins back to 1810 when the Sun Life Assurance Society was founded. In 1832 Friends Provident was founded to alleviate the hardship of Quaker families facing misfortune. The AXA UK life group was formed in 1997 from the merger of Sun Life Group and AXA Equity & Law.
Since its demutualisation in 2001, Friends Provident has developed strong offerings in pensions and protection and these have been complemented by the products offered by the merged elements of the AXA UK life businesses. The enlarged group's key business lines in the UK are corporate pensions and protection.
