Hours after the board of Resolution recommended shareholders to accept Standard Life's offer to acquire the firm which would see it abandon its Glasgow base, move to Edinburgh, and sell part of the business to Swiss Re-in stepped Pearl with a higher offer.Friends Provident had earlier fallen out of the bidding war.
Buyers are interested in Resolution's protection business as well as its access to distribution through some 700 Abbey branches.
The Scottish Provident brand is a key target.
Resolution owns a motley bunch of inactive and active insurers and brands.
We wait to see if the buyer keeps brand names or turns everything into a closed book of business.
