In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange on Friday, Tower Limited – which separated from its Australian namesake, now trading as TAL, in 2011 – explained it will sell off most of its non-participating life insurance policies though retaining the capital currently held against those policies.
The acquisition deal will also see Tower retain its participating book and other run-off life insurance assets, which have an embedded value of $23 million.
“We concluded that now was a good time to maximise value to Tower shareholders by selling this part of the life business,” said Tower group managing director, Rob Flannagan. “This concludes our strategic review.”
The announcement follows the sale of Tower Investments to Fisher Funds in February 2013.
At that time, a Tower NZ spokesperson told InvestorDaily that the company was selling off elements of its business to focus on its advisory services, retaining control of its in-house financial planning unit.
