RNS Number:0201E
Resolution Life Group
13 October 2004
13 October 2004
Mike Biggs joins Resolution
Resolution names Mr. Biggs Chief Financial Officer
Resolution Life Group ("Resolution", or "the Company"), the closed life fund
consolidator, is delighted to announce the appointment of Mike Biggs as Chief
Financial Officer and Board Executive Director of the Company.
Mr. Biggs, 52, formerly Group Finance Director of Aviva plc, joins Resolution
with effect from 1 January 2005. Aviva owns Norwich Union, the largest life
assurance company in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Biggs will take responsibility for the Company's financial management,
consolidated group reporting and capital structure. He will also lead
preparations for the Company's eventual flotation. Mr. Biggs was part of the
team that demutualised Norwich Union and brought the former society to the stock
market in 1997.
Following the merger of CGU and Norwich Union, Mr. Biggs managed a rapid and
effective programme of integration, and played a leading role in reshaping
Aviva's portfolio of businesses and raising new capital.
Resolution recently completed the purchase of R&SA Life for #850 million and is
currently analysing further acquisition opportunities. There are expected to be
some 20 closed UK life funds with assets in excess of #150 billion by 2005.
Clive Cowdery, Chief Executive Officer of Resolution, said: "Mike joining
Resolution is an important step in our plans for strengthening the Company ahead
of future acquisitions. He brings with him a wealth of experience from his 20
years in life assurance and banking. His decision to join Resolution reflects
the exciting growth prospects for the Group."
Mr. Biggs said: "I decided to resign from Aviva to pursue new and different
challenges. I am attracted to the way Resolution is tackling an important
industry issue. It has brought an innovative private sector solution to the
orderly run-off of closed life funds."
"I believe that this approach will be in the common interest of policyholders,
investors and vendors," he added.
Resolution's Board is led by Sir Brian Williamson, Group Chairman, and has
significant experience from the insurance industry, the financial markets and
the arena of public policy.
Resolution is an insurance holdings group backed by private sector investors
with the sole purpose of buying and running closed UK life funds. Acting as an
industry utility, Resolution aims to offer a response to the problems
surrounding the growing number of closed funds.
Resolution's shareholders are a broad group of institutional investors,
including pension funds, life companies, investment trusts and family offices.
The Group has the objective of patiently achieving stable and secure long-term
yield and returns.
For further information please contact:
Resolution Life Group
Sir Brian Williamson +44 20 7887 1314
Clive Cowdery
Financial Dynamics
Robert Bailhache +44 20 7269 7200
www.resolutionlifegroup.com
About Resolution
Resolution was formed to buy and run off closed UK life funds and represents an
injection of new capital into the financial sector. Acting as an industry
utility, Resolution aims to offer a private sector response to the growing
number of closed life funds, balancing the needs of:
* current owners of closed funds, who wish to release capital for their core
businesses
* policyholders, who want stability and guidance over policy options
* investors, seeking a stable long-term return as the funds mature
Resolution intends to make further acquisitions and expects to seek a public
listing to fund growth in the medium term.
Resolution is backed by institutional investors, including pension funds, life
assurance funds, and investment trusts and funds. This group has a long term
approach, which is suited to an orderly run-off of closed books.
Market Background
The life insurance industry expanded rapidly during the 1970s and 1980s, driven
by rising equity markets and government encouragement of private pension and
savings provision. In the late 1990s, equity market volatility and regulatory
developments put pressure on the sector's profitability, and a large number of
industry players stopped writing new business.
Despite the fact these companies are closed to new business, they will take
decades to run off as the underlying policies mature or lapse, requiring
significant continued operational and financial management. These closed life
insurance companies are often not core to their current owners, many of which
are therefore investigating their disposal. Resolution estimates that more than
20 life companies will be closed by 2005 and that many will be sold over the
next three years. Resolution estimates that these companies comprise a total of
more than #150 billion in assets, freezing in excess of #15 billion of financial
sector capital.
The Board of Directors
The Board currently consists of the following:
* Sir Brian Williamson, Chairman
* Sir David Cooksey, Non-executive Director
* David Woods, Non-executive Director
* Clive Cowdery, Chief Executive Officer
* Brendan Meehan, Chief Operating Officer
About Mike Biggs
Mike began his career at Williams & Glyns Bank, where he was a management
trainee, before joining Arthur Andersen in 1976. There he qualified as a
chartered accountant and rose through the firm to become a Manager in Financial
Services. In 1984, he took up a role as Manager of Finance at Hong Kong &
Shanghai Banking Corporation in the UK. After three years he left to become
Group Financial Controller of Morgan Grenfell, eventually leaving the bank in
1991 to join Norwich Union as Group Financial Controller. In 1995, he became
General Manager of Norwich Union's international operations and was a member of
the team that demutualised and floated the Society in 1997. He was appointed
Group Finance Director of Norwich Union in that year. Following the merger of
Norwich Union with CGU in 2000 that created CGNU, he was made Group Executive
Director responsible for CGNU's UK general insurance business. He was promoted
to Group Finance Director of CGNU in 2001, a position he held until he chose to
leave Aviva, the renamed CGNU business, on 31 December 2003.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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