Equitable Life puts sale plan on hold

British mutual life insurer Equitable Life today announced it had put plans to sell the society on hold.

The group said it had received various approaches to acquire the company, but in the current financial climate, it thought none of these would provide improved prospects for policyholders.

As a result it has decided to put the sales process on hold and instead focus on running the business until all current policies have matured, a process known as run-off.

Equitable effectively put itself up for sale at the beginning of this year when it produced a so-called data book, giving a detailed description of its remaining business for interested third parties to see.

The move followed the £1.7 billion transfer of its with-profits annuity book to Prudential last year, which was seen as a potential barrier to a future sale, due to the complex nature of the products.

The society also transferred its £4.6 billion non-profit annuity book to Canada Life in February 2007.

Equitable said it had wanted to see if third parties could improve prospects for its remaining policyholders, particularly through reducing costs or offering greater certainty over expenses.

But it said after taking appropriate advice, the board had decided policyholders would be best served by a “secure and stable run-off”.

The group added it would now be looking in detail at the company, its people, structure and costs.

Vanni Treves, chairman of Equitable, said: “Having carried out this important test of our options for improving prospects for our policyholders, we will now focus on a stable and secure run-off of the society.”