Friends offloads F&C interest

Insurer Friends Provident has offloaded its majority stake in embattled F&C Asset Management in a deal that sees the shareholding distributed among its own investors.

The group handed over the 52% stake, which was worth around £170 million on Thursday night's closing price, to shareholders after attempts to sell the holding fell through.

The demerger sees F&C become a fully independent listed fund manager for the first time in its 140-year history.

But it has been a turbulent past year for F&C after it was hit hard by the credit crunch, struggling amid a rush by investors to withdraw cash at the height of the financial crisis.

It saw as much as £4 billion in net outflows in the final quarter of 2008.

The turmoil left Friends with a £264 million write down last year on the value of its interest in F&C.

Friends first announced that it would demerge F&C by sharing out the stake among its investors in October, as it also scrapped plans to sell wealth management arm Lombard.

Trevor Matthews, chief executive officer of Friends Provident, said Friday's completion of the F&C demerger marked a "significant milestone" for the group.

"This action is part of the ongoing implementation of our strategy.

"We look forward to a strong working relationship with F&C that continues to provide benefits for our customers and shareholders," he added.