Aegon 'in the sights' of Resolution's Cowdery

AEGON UK, the Edinburgh-based life and pensions business, is thought to be in the sights of Clive Cowdery, who heads the Resolution acquisitions vehicle.

Market sources were unaware of any direct approaches but there was talk last week of him taking a closer look at the Netherlands-owned business.

He has already snapped up Friends Provident and made his intentions clear last year when he said he was looking for another big acquisition. He has been linked in the past with moves on Scottish Widows and Legal & General.

With Aegon's business proving patchy and some observers questioning its long-term strategy, industry sources are asking whether the company's bosses in The Hague would offload the British wing, which has around two million customers and employs more than 4,900 staff.

Ten days ago, Aegon UK chief executive Otto Thoresen unveiled a surprise management shake-up which saw life and pensions boss Feilim Mackle and the director of marketing Steve Clode leave the company. Adrian Grace and Iain Black have been installed as chief operating officers in a new structure.

The changes were announced as the company revealed that its life and pensions business for the year fell 23 per cent to 943 million. The group also booked 183m in impairment charges for the year.

But Thoresen welcomed an "encouraging" fourth quarter, reporting an improvement in profitability and "more of a sense of stability".

UK life and pensions new business rose 9 per cent in the last quarter of 2009, while underlying earnings were 30m – a 131 per cent rise on the same quarter in 2008 when the firm made a loss of 11m.