Legal & General completes acquisition of Cofunds platform

Legal & General Group has completed the acquisition of Cofunds by purchasing the remaining 75 per cent of its share capital, according to an update issued by the group on Thursday. The acquisition valued Cofunds at £175m and Legal & General said that it had paid a cash consideration of £131m. The group said that it had identified digital solutions as one of its five key drivers of growth and added that the acquisition provided Legal & General with scale and distribution in the investment platform market. Cofunds is an investment platform for financial services had assets under administration of £52bn, and a 20% share of the UK investment platform market on March 31st. L&G said that the transaction is expected to be earnings accretive by the end of 2014 with an expected cost synergy benefit of £11m per annum from 2015, with a one-off investment cost of around £17m. Cofunds will retain its focus as a whole-of-market platform, serving both retail and institutional clients and is to remain a separate brand in the UK investment platform market, L&G added. MF