Acquisition

RNS Number : 8347Y

Legal & General Group Plc

11 September 2015

 



Legal & general agrees £13bn pension mandate with national grid uk pension scheme

Legal & General Group plc ("Legal & General") has today announced a mandate to manage £13 billion of assets for the National Grid UK Pension Scheme ("the Scheme") and the acquisition, subject to regulatory approval, of Aerion Fund Management ("Aerion"), the in-house manager of the Scheme.

In parallel, the Scheme will be creating a small Executive Office of pension and investment specialists to support the Trustees in the management of the £17bn total portfolio of Scheme assets. Legal & General Investment Management ("LGIM") will provide total portfolio solutions to the Trustees through the Executive Office, which will determine the strategic asset allocation and provide oversight of external managers.

The transaction is expected to complete before the end of the year, and is subject to regulatory approval.

Further details can be found in the joint press release issued by Legal & General and National Grid, accessed via the following link: http://investor.legalandgeneral.com/releases.cfm

- ENDS -

For further information, please contact:

Investors:

Laura Doyle                       Head of Investor Relations                                                                                       020 3124 2088

Stephen Thomas             Investor Relations Manager                                                                                     020 3124 2047

Media:

John Godfrey                     Corporate Affairs Director                                                                                         020 3124 2090

Richard King                     Head of Group Corporate Communications                                                        020 3124 2095

Notes to editors:

Legal & General Group Plc

Established in 1836, Legal & General is a leading provider of insurance, savings and investment management products in the UK. The Group has a market capitalisation of £15.1bn (as at 10 September 2015) and is responsible for investing £726bn worldwide (as at 30^th June 2015) on behalf of investors, policyholders and shareholders. We have over seven million customers in the UK for life assurance, pensions, investments and general insurance plans and over one million customers in the US who rely on us for life assurance. In 2014, Legal & General's operating profit (on the IFRS basis) was £1,275m and earnings per share were 16.70p for the period, an increase of 10% for both respectively.

For more information on Legal & General, please see http://www.legalandgeneralgroup.com/

National Grid UK Pension Scheme/National Grid plc

The National Grid UK Pension Scheme is a UK corporate defined benefit pension scheme closed to new members, which is responsible for approximately £17bn of assets under management. The Scheme manages assets on behalf of approximately 107,000 members (comprising predominantly members from the gas transmission and distribution businesses) from several participating employers.

Aerion Fund Management is an FCA-authorised fund manager fully owned by the Trustees of the NGUKPS, which currently manages around 75% of the Scheme's assets (£13bn), with the remainder being managed by external asset management companies.

The long term strategic partnership agreed with LGIM relates to the management of the initial £13bn of Scheme assets that are currently managed by Aerion. The Executive Office will be responsible for the oversight of the management of the entire Scheme asset portfolio comprising £17bn of assets under management.

Forward-looking statements

This announcement may contain certain forward-looking statements relating to Legal & General, its plans and its current goals and expectations relating to future financial condition, performance and results. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances which are beyond Legal & General's control, including, among others, UK domestic and global economic and business conditions, market related risks such as fluctuations in interest rates and exchange rates, the policies and actions of regulatory and Governmental authorities, the impact of competition, the timing impact of these events and other uncertainties of future acquisition or combinations within relevant industries. As a result, Legal & General's actual future condition, performance and results may differ materially from the plans, goals and expectations set out in these forward-looking statements and persons reading this announcement should not place reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made only as at the date on which such statements are made and Legal & General Group Plc does not undertake to update forward-looking statements contained in this announcement or any other forward-looking statement it may make.

 

END

 

 

ACQLBMBTMBTBBFA