Phoenix boss eyes closed funds’ billions

Jonathan Moss reckons there's about £250 billion sitting in UK with-profits funds that are closed to new business — and he'd love to get his hands on it.

The chief executive of Phoenix Group thinks insurers and banks will be increasingly keen to offload those funds to concentrate on new sales.

"These are old-fashioned businesses needing a lot of time and attention. And we are acquisitive," he said.

Phoenix manages assets of £71.4 billion — up by
£4.5 billion in the nine months to September — for millions of policyholders.

Those policyholders will originally have taken out a pension or savings scheme with any number of now moribund insurers such as London Life.

Phoenix can trace its roots back to 1782. The modern company emerged from a deal two years ago when Pearl Group bought Resolution, the insurance takeover vehicle set up by Clive Cowdery. That deal saddled Phoenix with debts of £2.8 billion which it is slowly paying down.

The company generated cash for shareholders of £364 million in the period.

Shareholders will enjoy a dividend of £20 million.
Phoenix has a £1.2 billion surplus on its books to protect against future financial shocks.