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By Chris Vellacott
LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - British life insurer Legal &General outpaced expectations on sales and cashgeneration in the first quarter of 2012 as its products weresnapped up investors and ageing savers putting more aside forretirement.
The firm said in a trading statement on Thursday total salesfor the group were up nearly a third from a year earlier to 555million pounds during the three months to March 31, well aheadof market forecasts of 499 million pounds.
Net cash generation rose by a fifth to 249 million pounds,also ahead of a 244 million pounds forecast, as L&G's businessesgained scale globally.
Management said the firm wants to invest in more expansionin foreign markets, seeking to harness trends such as ageingpopulations, the retreat of governments from pension provisionand a more internationalised investment industry.
The quarter saw L&G make two merger deals: buying out the 75percent of investment fund supermarket Cofunds it did notalready own, and the acquisition of a 46.5 percent stake in UKhousebuilder Cala Group from Lloyds Banking Group.
The firm is on the look out for more such transactions,Chief Executive Nigel Wilson said in a conference call withjournalists, though he stressed any deals will be bolt on,rather than transformational.
"We have successfully executed two M&A deals and we have thecapital, the capability and the appetite to do more to enhancegrowth," he said.
Wilson said the company is also looking to make directinfrastructure investments in the UK, providing capital at atime when banks are retrenching in the wake of the financialcrisis.
Infrastructure has become popular with institutional andindividual investors because it can provide steady incomestreams from sources such as road tolls and inflation-indexedcontract revenues.
Investing in infrastructure is also increasingly encouragedby governments seeking to boost private sector financing as theystruggle to cut spending and limit public debt.
Wilson said the company was "engaging positively" withauthorities over its interest in putting money directly intoareas such as housebuilding, urban regeneration, and energy.
"There's a lot of required infrastructure assets in the UKwe'd be delighted to increase our investment in," Wilson said.
Among its strongest performing units, the savings businesssaw a 20 percent jump in sales to 366 million pounds with assetsunder administration reaching 74 billion pounds, the companysaid.
The firm's investment management arm saw net inflows of newmoney more than double from a year earlier to 5.5 billion poundsduring the quarter, taking assets under management to 441billion pounds.
Much of the new money came from international clients in theUnited States, Gulf and Europe, the company said.
