Muscat: Legal and General Group has decided to sell its 50 per cent stake in Legal General Gulf (LGG), its Bahrain-based joint venture with Ahli United Bank (AUB) specialising in the extension of conventional and Sharia-compliant life insurance services.

This move comes in the context of other corporate divestitures undertaken by the LG Group in France, Germany and Egypt to focus its business on identified core markets, said a company release. Following completion of the sale, Ahli United Bank now holds 100 per cent of LGG’s shares.

“Securing full ownership of LGG demonstrates AUB’s continued commitment towards providing life insurance and bancassurance services, which represent an integral part of the AUB Group’s product offering,” said Sanjeev Baijal, deputy group chief executive officer (finance and strategic development) of AUB.

He further added that the company will seek to expand its bancassurance distribution network and to further improve its product menu particularly on the Takaful side.

“We are very encouraged by the closer association with the AUB Group, which will facilitate the development of conventional and Sharia compliant business growth opportunities and the achievement of better cost synergies,” said Peter Drummond, managing director of LGG.

He confirmed that all existing client polices and their underlying investment arrangements remain unchanged and that the LGG management and staff will continue to service existing clients and work to develop new business and products.