Scottish Friendly announces planned takeover of Marine & General Mutual

Press release - 2nd February 2015

• Scotland’s largest financial mutual on course to take over Marine & General Mutual (M&GM)

Scottish Friendly, Scotland’s largest financial mutual, has today announced that it is in the final stages of securing the takeover of Marine & General Mutual (M&GM) – the oldest active registered company in the UK.

The two mutual organisations expect the transaction to complete in the second quarter of this year, subject to approval from members, regulators and the High Court.

The deal will be the largest takeover by Scottish Friendly to date and will double its assets to around £2 billion.

Fiona McBain, Chief Executive, Scottish Friendly said:

This announcement is a tangible outcome of our strategy to diversify and grow the Scottish Friendly Group. The overall efficiency of Scottish Friendly’s business has resulted in our ability to competitively tender to take over existing financial services companies and run them more effectively and more efficiently.

We are particularly proud of having secured the opportunity to double in size. The takeover of M&GM will give us additional economies of scale that can drive further efficiencies and increased value to all of our policyholders, including those transferring from M&GM.

David Gulland, Chief Executive, M&GM said:

As we explained to our policyholders and members in our Strategic Report for 2013, we have been seeking to secure the long-term future of our customers through a transfer to another organisation. This involved a thorough process considering a number of potential operations and we were delighted to select Scottish Friendly. We were particularly impressed by the Group's efficiency, customer focus and experience in this field. We welcome the fact that all M&GM policyholders will become members of Scottish Friendly as part of this deal.