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L&G sells in India; Swiss Re drops SoftBank talks; Scor completes $300M cat bond

S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of insurance news stories and more published throughout the week.

Deal table

* Dutch insurer Achmea BV completed the sale of Ireland-based Friends First Life Assurance Co. Ltd. to Aviva PLC, having obtained all regulatory approvals for the deal.

* U.S.-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC reportedly acquired Legal & General Group PLC's 26% stake in Mumbai-based IndiaFirst Life Insurance Co. Ltd. for 7.10 billion Indian rupees.

* Russian investment group Region won an auction to acquire a 100% stake in insurer OJSC State Insurance Co. Yugoria from Russia's Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Area.

* Phoenix Group Holdings launched a fully underwritten £950 million rights issue to help fund its planned acquisition of Standard Life Assurance Ltd. from Standard Life Aberdeen PLC. The latter said, meanwhile, that it expects annual net efficiency savings of £100 million by the end of 2020 from the sale, on top of annual cost synergies of £250 million. It also set out plans to return £1.75 billion of capital to shareholders after the sale.

Stake sales

* Allianz Group agreed to acquire an 8% stake in Nigeria-based African Reinsurance Corp. for a total cash consideration payable at closing of $81 million.

* Allianz also made another investment in digital wealth manager Moneyfarm, and its asset management unit, Allianz Asset Management, will become Moneyfarm's lead investor and a minority shareholder.

* The Slovenian Insurance Supervision Agency once again stopped insurer CROATIA osiguranje dd from raising its stake in Pozavarovalnica Sava dd to a level greater than 20% and lower than one-third.

* Private equity funds advised by BC Partners LLP and Sabre Insurance Group PLC co-founder Angus Ball sold an approximately 18.2% stake in the U.K. private motor insurance firm for gross proceeds of £112.8 million.

* Swiss Re AG ended negotiations with Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. regarding a potential minority investment by the Japanese company in the Swiss reinsurer.

* Old Mutual PLC confirmed its plans to proceed with the offer of up to 9.6% of the ordinary shares of Quilter, formerly Old Mutual Wealth, after shareholders approved the company's plans to finalize its planned managed breakup.

Executive shuffling

* Mark Zinkula will retire as CEO of Legal & General Group unit Legal & General Investment Management Ltd. on Aug. 31, 2019.

* Aon PLC named Karl Hennessy CEO of its newly created carrier solutions group, with Andy Jenn set to become COO of the new group.

* Zurich Insurance has appointed Pat Maher farm business development manager for the Midlands region.

Industry news

* The introduction of the Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse Tax in the U.S. will hit Lloyd's insurers in particular because of its strong U.S. presence, EY tax partner Jeff Soar said.

* Munich Re Co. expects an average 2018 hurricane season with about three large hurricanes, compared to twice as many in 2017.

In other news

* Aviva's global asset management business, Aviva Investors, set up a real assets unit to cover direct real estate, infrastructure, structured finance and private debt.

* Portuguese insurer Seguradoras Unidas SA is among the companies being investigated for cartel behavior by Portuguese antitrust authorities, but does not expect to receive any fine as a result of the probe, Jornal de Negócios reported.

* Scor SE completed a $300 million catastrophe bond, which will provide retrocessional reinsurance protection across a four-year term. The risk period for the bond will run from June 1, 2018, to May 31, 2022.

* Russian insurer OAO Reso Garantia decided to postpone its initial public offering, planned for 2018.

Featured during the week on S&P Global Market Intelligence

UK brokers could shun unrated, overseas insurers after latest collapse: U.K. insurance brokers are facing further pressure from British regulators and their own professional indemnity providers about the insurers with whom they place their business, following the high-profile collapse of Denmark-based Alpha Insurance A/S in May.

Beazley to split its biggest unit from 2019: A company spokesperson confirmed the division of the Lloyd's insurer's $1.29 billion specialty business, with an analyst calling the move "a clear incremental positive."

UK insurance-linked securities pioneer Neon set to renew deal: Lloyd's of London insurer Neon Underwriting Ltd., the first company to use the U.K.'s new insurance-linked securities regime, is planning to renew its existing deal and hopes to boost its size.