Canada’s Manulife pays 2.8 bn euros for Standard Life assets

SCREENGRAB from www.manulife.ca

MONTREAL—Canada’s Manulife Financial said Wednesday it will acquire assets in Canada from British insurer Standard Life for 4 billion Canadian dollars (2.8 billion euros) in cash.

For months Standard Life had been considering selling assets in Canada, which will be acquired by the insurance unit of Manulife.

The Canadian company is making the acquisition to boost its presence in Quebec, Manulife president and CEO Donald Guloien said.

Standard Life, which manages 52 billion Canadian dollars in Canada, is the fifth-biggest insurer in the Canadian market, with 2,000 employees and 1.4 million customers.

Manulife Financial manages nearly $600 billion US dollars in assets around the world, mainly in Asia, Canada and the United States.

Toronto-based Manulife said job losses from the transaction will be limited over the short term as the operation will take 18 to 24 months to complete.