After rejecting two previous offers from Resolution, Friends Provident accepted a revised bid worth 1.86 billion pounds or $3.1 billion, reports the New York Times. Resolution announced that it would offer 0.9 shares for each share of Friends, almost 10 percent higher than its initial offer last month. It said it would give Friends’ shareholder the option to sell up to 500 million pounds of stock in exchange for cash. Resolution, founded by the former head of General Electric’s European insurance unit, Clive Cowdery, completed its first acquisition with the Friends Provident deal. “Trading conditions remain tough,” Trevor Matthews, the chief executive of Friends, said in the earnings statement. “In the U.K., the economic slowdown has reduced new business from increments and new members on our existing group pensions schemes.”
Friends Provident Accepts Resolution’s Bid
Resolution revised its bid and purchased Friends Provident for $3.1 billion.