Standard Life is expected to team up with Swiss Re this week to launch a joint bid for Resolution, setting the scene for a three-way battle for control of the "zombie fund" firm. The pair could confirm their intentions as early as today, it is believed.
Analysts are speculating that an initial approach from Standard Life and Swiss Re could value Resolution - the UK's biggest manager of closed life insurance funds - at around £4.7bn, or around 700p a share.
Although Edinburgh-based Standard Life is understood to have been holding talks with a number of parties, Swiss Re is believed to have been favoured because it has hefty cash resources.
The forecast joint offer with Swiss Re will be well above last week's 660p-a-share proposal from Pearl Assurance, which was snubbed by Resolution.
Pearl's offer was made and rejected the day after Resolution and Friends Provident published their detailed plans for the £8.5bn merger intended to create Friends Financial at the end of the next month, following a shareholder vote on November 5.
Many industry experts believe the offer from Pearl was an attempt to draw other possible bidders, including Standard Life, into the ring.
Resolution's shares closed on Friday at 708.5p, almost 8% above Pearl's offer, and some analysts believe the buy-out price for Resolution could rise as high as 750p.
Standard Life had been expected to team up with Pearl.
However, the latter surprised the market by partnering Royal London, owner of Scottish Life, which would pay Pearl £1.25bn to offload Scottish Provident and the Glasgow-based former Abbey National life administration business in Glasgow, as well as Scottish Provident International and the running and asset management of a block of in-force policies.
Pearl would hang on to the closed books of policies for which it was created by entrepreneur Hugh Osmond, who had already signalled he would not offer more than the regulatory minimum 660p at which Pearl had bought shares in the market.
Standard Life's interest, meanwhile, is also expected to extend to Resolution's Glasgow-based fund management arm. Swiss Re wants to keep Resolution's closed life funds, adding to its existing portfolio of closed books, such as those acquired from GE Capital.
The combination of Resolution and Friends is expected to generate at least £100m of annual cost savings, although the firms have denied this will lead to major job losses.
Last week, Resolution began its round of investor presentations for the proposed merger and said it remained convinced the deal offers the best value for shareholders.
In its own presentation to analysts and investors, however, Pearl said it had "serious concerns" about the proposed merger, regardless of its own interest in bidding, saying it was a "high-risk foray into areas where Resolution has limited expertise".
Pearl is Resolution's largest shareholder with more than 16%.
Sources close to Pearl indicated last week that it would be prepared to accept an offer for the shares if the price was high enough.
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