LV= sets out explanation for sale; urges members to vote for private equity bid

Vote on 10 December

Tom Ellis
clock • 4 min read

Amid a proposed sale that has turned public, with details and rumours flooding the news, LV= has set out another statement, this one explaining why it chose to sell to private equity firm Bain Capital and selected its bid among 11 others.

After the mutual sold its general insurance business in 2017 and 2019, which it deemed necessary to bolster its "weak capital position", the company said its 2020 strategic review came to the conclusion the business was a "sub-scale life and pensions business with an insufficiently strong capital structure and a loss-making new business unit, in need of investment".  As such, it said, a continuation of strategy to pursue a "business as usual" strategy as an independent mutual would not be fair for members given the "high execution risks" of doing so. It said the Bain Capital bid, whic...

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