Legal & General: Appetite for UK life

Research evidence excerpt

Legal & General: Appetite for UK life

Equity Research

European Insurance

15 May 2026

Legal & General

Appetite for UK life

The FT questioned if L&G may be a take-over target. Given its

market cap (£14.5bn), shareholder exposure to credit

(annuity assets of £93bn), strategic partners (Meiji, LGEN.L/LGEN LN OVERWEIGHT

European Insurance NEUTRAL

Blackstone) and recent regulatory changes (FundedRe, Price Target GBp 340

Pensions Act), we consider a take-over possible, but Price (14-May-26) GBp 264

challenging. PotentialSource: Bloomberg,Upside/DownsideBarclays Research +28.9%

The Financial Times (FT) published an article on 14 May questioning if L&G may be the next UK European Insurance

annuity writer to be acquired ("Will L&G be the City's next domino to fall?", 14 May 2026). L&G's Larissa van Deventer

share price closed up 6.2% vs UK annuity writer peers Aviva +1.7%, Standard Life +2.4% and +44 (0)20 3555 1527

M&G +1.0%, and the FTSE 100 +0.5%. We consider the key points from the article along with the larissa.vandeventer@barclays.com

reasons why we consider a take-over of L&G to be challenging: Barclays, UK

FT states that potential bidders are considering L&G: The article states that "City advisers

told the FT that potential bidders, including insurers and alternative asset managers, had been

running the rule over the business". The article does not name specific potential bidders. The FT

claims that some bidders have considered a full take-over of L&G as opposed to acquiring

certain parts of the business. However, the article points out that a full take-over could be

complicated by matters such as political sensitivities considering L&G's size and asset holdings

(we agree that these may prove sensitive). The FT quotes CEO Antonio Simões as stating that he