Linklaters

The firm’s insurance lawyers are renowned for devising innovative restructuring and financing techniques for the sector to help our clients achieve their business goals.

Insurance expertise at Linklaters includes M&A transactions, joint ventures, rights issues, securitisations, demutualisation of insurers, complex capital markets transactions, restructurings and reorganisations including portfolio transfers.

Our clients rely on Linklaters to guide them through the changes that continue to affect the insurance industry, so they can overcome the issues they face and take advantage of the opportunities. They gain the benefit of expert advice from global specialists in corporate insurance, M&A, litigation, restructuring and insolvency, capital markets, tax, employment and regulatory matters.

Recent transactions include advising:

• China-based insurance company The National Trust on the RMB1 billion agreement to establish a life insurance joint venture company with HSBC in the PRC providing a life insurance platform for HSBC in China
• Legal & General on the conversion of Legal & General Pensions Limited into an ISPV – the creation of the first UK insurance special purpose vehicle (ISPV)
• Zurich Financial Services Group on its first entry into the Islamic insurance market through a family takaful joint venture  - one of the first Islamic insurance joint ventures in the UAE and Middle East North Africa  
• a major international investment bank on a longevity swap – a transaction where derivative swap documentation is used as a tool to hedge exposure to longevity risk under annuity policies
• two major international investment banks on the securitisation by Bank of Ireland subsidiary, New Ireland, which involved a number of innovative features