General Insurance Article - L&G in exclusive negotiations to sell L&G France to APICIL

 Mark Gregory, Group Chief Financial Officer, Legal & General said: "We have an increasingly focused strategy and our French business is no longer a core operation for us. Legal & General France has strong potential: which can be realised by combining it with APICIL's established strengths in the French market."

 Philippe Barret, Managing Director, APICIL Group said: "Once the transaction is confirmed, we will be pleased to welcome L&G France, its successful teams and business partners within the APICIL Group. This acquisition will definitely accelerate APICIL's growth in its two strategic markets: Life Insurance and Medical, death and disability Insurance. The acquisition will nicely complement our recent acquisition of Skandia (France/ Luxembourg) and our existing businesses".

 Oliver Potellet, President and CEO, Legal & General France said: "Legal & General has been a great owner, and helped us become a key player in the French insurance market. I'm excited about our next phase of development, and look forward to achieving it in partnership with APICIL."

 The transaction will be submitted to L&G France's Works Council, as required under French law, and is subject to the signing of a definitive agreement and the approval of regulatory authorities.

 L&G France is headquartered in Paris, with 19 agency branches situated across France. It was established in 1934, and Oliver Potellet has been President and CEO since 2010. It is a specialist player in unit-linked savings and group risk, with an established presence in the affluent savings market and the group health and protection market for SMEs. It has a client base of circa 37,000 individual savings customers, circa 4,000 group risk SME customers, and it wrote premiums in 2014 of €371.8m in savings and €214.9m in group risk.