Standard Life plc — formerly called Phoenix Group — said on Monday it expects to “unlock” £800 million of “net synergies” from the £2 billion acquisition of Edinburgh-based Aegon UK it announced in April.
The prediction came as Standard Life published half-year results showing assets under administration up 5% to £333 billion and an IFRS loss after tax attributable to owners of £179 million (H1 2025: £156 million).
“The loss is driven by £473 million of adverse hedging-related economic variances (H1 2025: £275 million), primarily from rising equity markets in the period (FTSE 100 +6%, S&P 500 +10% and Eurostoxx 50 +9%), and reflects the result of the Group’s hedging programme which aims to protect cash and Solvency II capital from volatility in equities and interest rates.
“This gives rise to accounting movements, as several of the Solvency II capital components covered by hedging are not recognised on the IFRS balance sheet, with the IFRS market sensitivities shown on page 43 in the Interim Financial Report.”
Standard Life reported first-half IFRS adjusted operating profit up 25% to £563 million and interim dividend up 2.6% to 28.05p per share.
In August, Standard Life announced a strategic partnership with CVC Capital Partners and Prudential Financial, Inc. (PFI) of the US, alongside Goldman Sachs Group, MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings, and other long-term institutional investors to expand its Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) business.
The partnership will be funded by a combined initial capital commitment of up to £2 billion, expected to be drawn over five years, including £500 million from Standard Life, with the balance from the consortium, which is led by CVC and PFI.
Standard Life said of the Aegon UK deal: “This transaction is both strategically and financially compelling. First, it gives us increased scale. Standard Life will become the largest player in the UK Pensions and Savings market serving 16 million customers.
“Second, we will be in an even stronger position to meet the evolving needs of our customers, with enhanced digital, advice and distribution capabilities, across Workplace and Retail.
“Aegon UK adds a number of areas where we have less of a presence today and regard as being very important to our offering going forward, in particular their adviser platform capability, corporate advisory, financial advice and planning, and their wrap platform.
“The enlarged group will have broader waterfront capabilities, strengthened distribution, with an enhanced digital and technology offering.
“Third, it accelerates making us a more capital-light business. Fourth, the financial metrics for the deal are attractive.
“We expect to unlock c.£0.8 billion of net synergies, and increase our excess cash by c.£0.4 billion over the next five years. That will give us even greater flexibility to invest in growth, or return capital, in the future. Finally, the funding structure is efficient and it enhances our capital strength.
“We agreed a total consideration of £2 billion to acquire 100% of Aegon UK. We will fund this through a combination of cash, debt (consistent with our target leverage ratio of c.30%) and 181 million new shares in Standard Life. Newly issued shares to Aegon on completion will result in Aegon becoming a 15.3% shareholder in the enlarged group and appointing a non-executive director to the Board.
“We continue to make progress towards completion, which is expected around the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals. I look forward to welcoming Aegon UK colleagues into the Standard Life family at that point, and working together to capture the huge potential in front of us all.”
Standard Life Group CEO Andy Briggs said: “Standard Life continues to demonstrate exciting momentum against our vision to be the UK’s leading retirement savings and income business.
“Our strong half year results reflect how we are helping more customers achieve better outcomes and we remain on track to deliver our end-2026 financial targets, while our profitable growth and strong cash generation is increasing our financial flexibility.
“The £2 billion acquisition of Aegon UK and our recently announced UK PRT partnership will further strengthen our capabilities and customer offering.”