STANDARD LIFE
£2.2bn amount Canadian deal brings in
Standard Life’s sale of its Canadian business was so unexpected, and took place so late on Wednesday, that the market has taken a while to get its head around the implications.
Plainly it was a positive: the return on capital from the Canadian side, at 8 per cent or 9 per cent, is well behind the 15 per cent the insurer sees elsewhere, and the return of £1.75 billion to shareholders brings to £3.5 billion, or 147p a share, the amount handed over in ordinary or special dividends over the past four years.
But the real result is that Standard Life can move ahead as a much more capital-light business, rather than having huge sums tied up