9 May 2008

Great value for clients

We have been negotiating to improve the terms on which funds are available via the Cofunds platform, helping you deliver excellent value to your clients.

There are over 1,600 fund options available via Cofunds from over 70 fund managers. Over 45% of these funds are available at creation or net asset value (NAV), up from around 38% in March. Taking funds available at creation + 0.5% or better, that proportion rises to 82% (70% in March). You can get a detailed list of all funds and terms by clicking here - please scroll down the page.

Cofunds are an e-investment affiliate, meaning that your clients will not pay any Suffolk Life transaction fees for deals placed on the Cofunds platform. You can also place deals for your clients online via our Secure Portal, gain access to our discounts on initial fund charges and even receive trail commission where relevant - find out more.

Of course this implies that you have access to your clients' SIPPs via our Secure Portal. If you don't, you can click here to find out more about the portal, email us to request access or phone the web support team on 01473 296705.

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA OR JAPAN OR ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICTION

Recommended Cash Offer
by
Legal & General Retail Investments (Holdings) Limited (“LGRI”),
a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Legal & General Group plc (“Legal & General”)
for
Suffolk Life Group plc (“Suffolk Life”)

• The Boards of LGRI and Suffolk Life are pleased to announce that they have agreed the terms of a Recommended Cash Offer to be made by LGRI, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Legal & General, to acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Suffolk Life.
  
• The Offer is £15.75 in cash for each Suffolk Life Share, valuing the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Suffolk Life at approximately £62 million. 
  
• LGRI has received binding irrevocable undertakings to accept the Offer from all of the Suffolk Life Directors and various other Suffolk Life Shareholders in respect of, in aggregate, 1,720,496 Suffolk Life Shares, representing approximately 52.1 per cent. of the existing issued share capital of Suffolk Life.
  
• The Suffolk Life Directors, who have been so advised by Fenchurch Advisory Partners, consider the terms of the Offer to be fair and reasonable and intend unanimously to recommend that Suffolk Life Shareholders accept the Offer.  In providing such advice, Fenchurch Advisory Partners has taken into account the commercial assessments of the Suffolk Life Directors.
  

Commenting on the Offer, Tim Breedon, Legal & General Group’s Chief Executive said:

“Suffolk Life is an outstanding business which has developed a leading position in the fast growing bespoke SIPP market.  Combining Suffolk Life's product expertise and service delivery with Legal & General’s extensive distribution reach will transform Suffolk Life's growth potential and create an outstanding business within Legal & General.”

“Growing our savings business is a strategic priority for Legal & General. Pensions and the mass affluent market are areas we have targeted for development. Suffolk Life enables us to accelerate our growth in these key expanding markets.”

Commenting on the Offer, Henry Catchpole, Suffolk Life's Chief Executive Officer said:

“Our strategic review has confirmed that, whilst the development of the pensions landscape presented Suffolk Life with attractive opportunities to grow profitably, Suffolk Life’s development could be accelerated through being part of a larger group which offered clear distribution synergies. We are therefore delighted to recommend the offer from LGRI which the Board, in conjunction with our advisers Fenchurch Advisory Partners, has concluded is in the best interests of our clients, employees and shareholders.”

This summary should be read in conjunction with the full text of the following Announcement and the Appendices which can be found here.

14 January 2008

Suffolk Life establishes 10,000th SIPP
Suffolk Life announced on 11 December that it had established its 10,000th SIPP. Managing Director Henry Catchpole presented a magnum of champagne to the investor Frank Hinks QC and his adviser Julian Morgan of Advoco. He commented "..the launch of our MasterSIPP product has given sales volumes a further boost on the back of our ability to accept self-investment of protected rights". Read more in our press release.

The event also brought a personal element to our business. Frank Hinks QC is a fascinating character. Not only is he a renowned QC with over 30 years experience, but he is a successful published author of children's books, set in the magical land of Ramion. Suffolk Life is extremely grateful to Frank for allowing his details to be used.

27 December 2007

DWP consult on protected rights and SIPPs
The DWP has now proposed that SIPPs should no longer be prevented from holding protected rights benefits, and has finally started a 12 week long consultation. Responses are to be submitted by 29 February 2008 with legislative changes planned for October 2008.

This subject has arisen before – a similar consultation was carried out in 2005 – with the result being that the government felt that SIPPs were too lightly regulated to hold protected rights. The consultation promised a review once SIPPs fell under FSA regulation, something which happened in April 2007. Regulation made treatment of all types of personal pensions, including SIPPs, consistent and therefore excluding SIPPs from holding protected rights is now considered to be unduly restrictive.

The outcome from the consultation potentially will result in individuals being able to place all their rights with one SIPP provider (if the provider so chooses), unlike today where only a select few providers, Suffolk Life included, are currently able to offer the protected rights option.

The Pensions Act 2007 also removes many of the rules for past protected rights. However the government is still considering whether the requirement for survivor’s benefits to be provided from protected rights should be retained. The abolition of contracting out on a defined contribution basis is still on course for implementation in April 2012.

Proposed changes to annuity rules are limited only to the removal of the provision to pay the annuity “to any one person” for up to 5 years in the event of the original recipient being a child either dying or attaining age 18 within 5 years of the date the annuity commenced. This has been in conflict with tax laws since 6 April 2006 and is a housekeeping change only.

Recognised as an industry leader in the SIPP marketplace, and already experienced in offering genuine self-investment of protected rights, Suffolk Life will be an active contributor to the consultation process.