Great-West Lifeco, the parent company of Canada Life in Ireland, has reached agreement to acquire Irish Life Group from the Irish Government for €1.3bn.
An Irish Life spokesperson told SRP that once the transaction - which is subject to regulatory approva - has been completed by the end of the second quarter of this year, the two companies (Irish Life and Canada Life) will prepare detailed integration plans which will cover all relevant areas.
"It is intended that the business platform going forward will be based on the Irish Life/Irish Life Investment Managers platform but we will also explore opportunities to strengthen product offerings by bringing on board relevant products from the Canada Life business," he said.
According to SRP data, Irish Life has 288 products in the Irish database with estimated sales of €2.3bn, dating from October 1999 until today.
Canada Life has a total of six products in the Irish database with an estimated sales value of €50m. Two of these are continuous products.
Irish Life marketed three products in 2012 and currently has one product open for subscription - Performance Tracker 1. Canada Life has not issued any new products since April 2011.
Irish Life said that the change of ownership will not affect the terms and conditions or any existing benefits of Irish Life plans.
Great-West Lifeco confirmed that it will combine Irish Life and Canada Life businesses in Ireland and will operate under the Irish Life brand name.
Michael Noonan, Ireland's finance minister said: "Today's deal is the first time during this crisis that a company in which we have invested has been returned fully to private ownership."
Irish Life will pay a dividend of €40m to the state from its profit in the past year, prior to the conclusion of the acquisition.