London, May 14, 2026, 09:09 BST
Legal & General shares popped nearly 5% Thursday after CEO António Simões told reporters the FTSE 100 insurer and asset manager isn’t planning a sale or break-up. That left the stock eyeing its sharpest single-day gain since December 2024, though L&G is still down a bit on the year.
Timing counts here. L&G is still working to convince investors that Simões’ go-it-alone strategy can revive returns, following a sluggish share price and a harsh market reaction to the March numbers. The Financial Times revealed North American private capital names like Apollo and Brookfield have been weighing their options with the company; Simões told the FT there are “no discussions” and insisted he was “100 per cent focused” on his plan. Financial Times
The focus now shifts to that strategy. After taking the reins as CEO in 2024, Simões said he wants to cut complexity at the 190-year-old firm and funnel more capital toward asset management and retail, with the company’s sizable retirement segment still anchoring the group. Since his arrival, L&G shares have trailed both Aviva and the FTSE 100, Reuters noted back in March.
L&G’s latest full-year report offered ammo for both camps. Core operating profit climbed 6% to 1.62 billion pounds in 2025, with core earnings per share up 9%. But the insurer’s pro-forma Solvency II ratio slipped, coming in at 210%, down from 232%. The firm also unveiled its biggest buyback yet: 1.2 billion pounds.
Pension risk transfer is still powering growth. The deals—company pension funds shifting their long-term payment duties to insurers—keep coming. In 2025, L&G signed off on 11.8 billion pounds of global pension risk transfer business, with 10.4 billion of that coming from the UK. Assets under management? 1.2 trillion pounds.
Simões wants to shift L&G’s image away from that of a plodding UK insurer, pushing it closer to the profile of a global asset manager. Back in April, he told Reuters the group plans to double its assets under management in Asia, targeting roughly $500 billion. The bigger goal: have international holdings make up more than half the portfolio by 2028, with Asia playing a key role.
Competition is intense. Asset managers are scrambling after private markets—think private credit and infrastructure—lured by fatter fees than what they get from public stocks and bonds. Back in February, Schroders and Apollo inked a deal to develop wealth and retirement products as a team. Reuters pointed out that L&G had already teamed up with Blackstone on private credit.
Risks still loom over the rebound. Should credit markets sour, gilt yields start swinging wildly again, or regulators ramp up costs for reinsurance deals, L&G’s capital strategy could come under sharper pressure. Back in April, the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority floated plans to hike capital requirements for funded reinsurance—a setup letting life insurers offload risk to offshore reinsurers. Major UK players like L&G, Aviva, and Standard Life use this structure.
Simões’ denial has drawn a boundary for now, but the market isn’t calling the discussion closed. L&G is pitching a “growing, simpler, better-connected” strategy, with its sights set on institutional retirement, asset management, and retail. What actually matters to investors: capital muscle, fee gains, and whether the buyback gets paid for without squeezing the group’s safety buffer. Legal General Group
