Offshore legal adviser Appleby acted as Isle of Man counsel to Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) during the sale of its offshore Isle of Man insurance operations.

The RL360 Group (RL360) acquired CMI Insurance Company Limited (CMI), an Isle of Man-authorised life insurance company, and CMI Financial Management Services Limited (CMI Financial Management Services), an Isle of Man-registered insurance manager, during a purchase agreed in May 2015 and completed on 30 November 2015. The transfer from LBG to RL360 included around 16,000 policies with more than ?4bn-worth of assets under management.

In parallel, Appleby assisted LBG with the sale of other entities, including CMI Fund Managers (IOM) Limited to Capital International Group Limited and Scottish Widows International Limited to Metrowise Limited, a subsidiary of Charles Taylor plc.

Simon Harding, Partner in the Corporate department at the Isle of Man office, took the lead for Appleby alongside Counsel Michelle Brook and Associates Helen Fretwell, Katherine Johnson and Alexandra Watterson. The deal also involved advice from Appleby’s Jersey office.

Simon said: “This was a unique deal to be involved in. The parallel sale consisted of so many Isle of Man-licensed entities it made this a complex matter, and one which was particularly interesting to be involved in.

“In relation to the main sale, of CMI and CMI Financial Management Services to RL360, our role involved advising on a number of distinct legal issues associated with the sale of a closed Isle of Man-authorised life assurance company.”