Danish financial services group, Alm. Brand has entered into a conditional agreement to sell its pension business, Alm. Brand Liv og Pension, to Nordic I&P for DKK 1.1m.

It said the sale has triggered an accounting gain of close to DKK 565m before payment of transaction-related costs. Alm. Brand’s guidance for consolidated profit is subsequently upgraded to DKK 1,200-1,250m before tax, against the previous guidance of a DKK 700-750m profit. The transaction is subject to approval by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority.

With the acquisition of Alm. Brand Liv og Pension, Nordic I&P will be able to offer pension schemes to new customers. Alm. Brand Forsikring and Nordic I&P have also entered into an agreement on the continued distribution of the life insurance company’s average rate product to customers of Alm. Brand Forsikring.

Alm. Brand Liv og Pension had total pension assets of DKK 16.9bn at 31 December 2020 and reported a pre-tax profit of DKK 135m for the full year.

Alm. Brand chairman of the board of directors, Jørgen Hesselbjerg Mikkelsen, said: “With the sale of Alm. Brand Liv og Pension, we will be able to focus specifically on non-life insurance going forward. The acquisition of Codan’s Danish business and the subsequent merger and integration of the two companies will position us strongly to create value for our customers and owners in the years ahead.”

In addition, Alm. Brand CEO, Rasmus Werner Nielsen, said: “We have thoroughly investigated the strategic opportunities for the life insurance business. Not only is the sale a perfect match for our life insurance activities, it also underlines our efforts to further sharpen the Alm. Brand Group’s focus.

“The sale marks yet another step towards the new and enlarged Alm. Brand with a strong market position in the non-life insurance market and a clear ambition to offer our customers the best insurances in the market.”

The owners of Nordic I&P are also in the process of acquiring Norli Pension Livsforsikring A/S, a Danish pension company specialising in handling traditional, average-rate pension agreements. To date, Norli Pension Livsforsikring A/S has not sold new pension schemes.

Based on Alm. Brand Liv og Pension’s market position and experience in selling average-rate pension products, the buyer will in future pursue a strategy which, in addition to consolidating portfolios, will also cover new sales of the traditional pension product. At 31 December 2020, Norli Pension Livsforsikring A/S had total pension assets of DKK 4.5bn, and the company reported a pre-tax profit of DKK 22m for 2020.

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