Cross-border case study: Aviva sale of offshore operations

We advised Aviva on the sale - by way of a competitive auction and tender process - of the offshore operations business owned by its Singapore subsidiary, Aviva Global Services (Singapore) Private Limited, to WNS Holdings Limited for £115 million.

Aviva and WNS also entered into a master services agreement where WNS (an existing Aviva supplier) became the long-term strategic business process outsourcing ("BPO") service provider to Aviva's life and general insurance business units in the UK, Canada and Ireland for over eight years. This agreement could generate a potential $1 billion in revenues over the life of the contract and involved over 5,800 employee seats in various business locations.

This was one of the biggest ever BPO transactions in the financial services sector involving a UK group. We fielded a large team which included lawyers from our Corporate, Insurance, Outsourcing, Regulatory, Tax and Dispute Resolution groups.

We worked closely with Aviva's in-house legal team, overseas counsel and other advisers to bring the deal to completion on an expedited timetable while addressing the numerous issues involved. As a result, Aviva was able to execute the transaction before the current market uncertainty reached its height. This allowed Aviva to crystallise investments in its offshore assets and secure both cost savings and improved service standards at a time when these were of particular importance to the insurance sector.