PruHealth set to expand following Standard Life Acquisition

Friday, September 3, 2010

The UK health insurance market has gained a new key player, following an announcement that PruHealth have completed a deal to acquire Standard Life Healthcare. The new deal will see PruHealth developing their suite of products and services in the Private Medical Insurance sector, growing their market share to eleven percent and providing cover to around 700,000 customers across the UK.

The growth will position PruHealth as the fourth largest health insurance provider in the country, strengthening their position in the market considerably. The enhanced business operation will see PruHealth providing a range of flexible health insurance plans and products to the market.

The company is planning to complete all aspects of the acquisition towards the end of the year, combining the products previously offered by Standard Life Healthcare with their own service suite. Before the acquisition integration is complete, the company will continue to provide UK customers with their existing services and there will be no discernible disruption to services.

A spokesperson for PruHealth has commented: "We are proud to be able to bring to clients both the award-winning product innovation and the excellent service history of two leading PMI businesses, and are excited about the opportunity to further develop our presence in the UK market. We are working hard to bring clients a new product suite, building on PruHealth's wellness expertise and Standard Life Healthcare's emphasis on outstanding service and comprehensive coverage."

"Our vision is to be the best health insurer in the UK and to excel at everything we do. The combined business will result in a complementary product range and assets in distribution and service as well as scale in negotiations to benefit clients. Brokers are core to our strategy and we are firmly committed to this channel and plan to make further investment in broker distribution going forward."