Phoenix buys Standard Life's insurance arm for $4.5 billion

The deal "supports an anticipated increase in our dividend," Phoenix said

Investors cheered Phoenix Group Holdings’ acquisition of Standard Life Aberdeen’s insurance unit Friday, a deal that will triple the UK company’s life-insurance assets. 

Phoenix rose as much as 7.6 per cent to a record in London after it announced the £3.2 billion ($4.5 billion) deal. As part of the transaction, Standard Life Aberdeen will get almost 20 per  cent of Phoenix’s shares. The purchase marks the third big deal in as many years for Clive Bannister, Phoenix’s 59-year-old CEO. In the process he has created Europe’s largest closed-life fund consolidator, a niche market where companies buy life-insurance assets from other businesses.