Irish Life in bid to grow retail business to €10bn
Insurance giant Irish Life intends to double the size of its retail investment business over the next five years to €10bn. It also plans to acquire a number of residential developments, investing “hundreds of millions” in residential properties.
Irish Life acquired the sought-after Fernbank development in Dundrum, south Dublin, last year for €100m.
In an interview with the Sunday Independent, CEO David Harney said the company intends to conclude similar deals shortly. “I doubt we will be doing two deals like Fernbank every year, but if we’re doing one deal like it annually we would be pretty happy,” he said.
Harney also confirmed that the company lost out to Brewin Dolphin in its bid to purchase the wealth-management arm of Investec.
“We do think that in Ireland too many people have too much on deposit rather than in broad-based investments.
“We’ve grown our multi-asset portfolios into a €5bn business over the last five years and we’d love to double that over the next five,” he said.
Harney, who was speaking after the launch of the company’s new MyLife health improvement app, also signalled the company’s intention to acquire more wealth management businesses.
