Phoenix launches capital raising to help fund acquisition

Phoenix Group said on Wednesday that it has launched a £950m capital raising to help fund its acquisition of Standard Life Aberdeen's insurance arm.

The company said it will issue seven new shares at 518p each for every 15 existing shares. These will represent around 32% of the enlarged issued share capital.

Phoenix announced back in February that it had agreed to buy Standard Life’s insurance business for a total consideration of £2.9bn.

Chief executive Clive Bannister said at the time: "This is a compelling transaction for Phoenix, consistent with the group's stated strategy and acquisition criteria. The proposed acquisition establishes Phoenix as the pre-eminent closed life fund consolidator in Europe with more than 10m policyholders and supports a significant increase in Phoenix's cash generation."

On Tuesday, Standard Life said it plans to return as much as £1.75bn to its shareholders in the wake of the insurance arm sale.

At 0908 BST, the shares were up 0.9% to 779p.