UK-based life insurance group Resolution is, reportedly, negotiating with prospective buyers to divest its Luxembourg-based Lombard division, which markets tax-efficient insurance products to high net-worth individuals.
The business that has been put up for sale, includes Lombard International Assurance and Insurance Development Holdings, said Resolution, the parent company of Friends Life.
Further, the British insurance buyout firm clarified that the discussion might not turn into a deal, as it is still in preliminary stages.
In 2004, Friends Life, formerly known as Friends Provident, acquired Lombard for €265m ($356m), which was ultimately purchased by Resolution in 2009.
Lombard is a pan-European provider of unit-linked life assurance products through financial advisers, wealth managers and private banks to rich individuals in Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Lombard manages assets worth about £20bn ($32.3bn), according to Resolution's half-year earnings report in August, and paid a £4m dividend to the parent company in 2012.
In 2008, Friends Provident discarded its plans to divest Lombard after a 10-month search that did not yield a positive result. UK's private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners had been negotiating at the time to acquire Lombard.
A report by Sky News was cited by Bloomberg as saying that Barclays is advising Resolution on the sale.
