History
The Company was founded by Samuel Tuke and Joseph Rowntree, both Quakers, in 1832 in Bradford as the Friends Provident Institution, a friendly society for members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). In 1854 it became a mutual life assurance company. In 1918 it acquired Century Insurance and in 1926 it bought Liverpool Marine & General Insurance.
Policies and membership of the Friends Provident Institution was only available to Quakers until 1915. Until 1983, a minimum of five members of the Board of Directors of Friends Provident had to be Quakers. Today, Friends Provident does not have any formal link with the Religious Society of Friends.
In 1986 it merged with UK Provident. In 1992 it became a foundation partner in the Eureko Alliance in association with AVCB (The Netherlands), Topdanmark (Denmark) and Wasa (Sweden). As part of this alliance, Friends Provident passed all of its then non UK subsidiaries (primarily in Australia and Canada) into Eureko.
In 1993 it acquired the UK operations of National Mutual of Australia and in 1998 it acquired London & Manchester Assurance.
In July 2001 it went through a process of demutualisation and was first listed on the London Stock Exchange.
On 21 January 2008 JC Flowers made a bid of £4bn (175p per share) as an informal offer for the company.
Resolution resumed talks with Friends Provident in July 2009 but was rejected twice, though Friends Provident eventually agreed to a takeover in August 2009. The £1.86 billion acquisition closed in November 2009.
On 29 March 2011 Friends Provident changed its name to Friends Life.
Read more about this topic: Friends Provident
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