THE end of the Royal Liver brand is now a big step closer after delegates approved a takeover by its rival Royal London.
The takeover will now go to the Financial Services Authority for approval, before the deal is completed on July 1, which will mark the end of the 160-year-old company.
The vote this afternoon came on the third day of the mutual’s annual general meeting at St George’s Hall. The delegates, who are elected by the mutual’s 1m members, backed the judgment of Royal Liver’s board by more than the required 75%.
Bill Connolly, Royal Liver’s interim chief executive, had previously said the deal needed to go ahead to bring “certainty and security” to Royal Liver’s members, and said the group was now too small to stand on its own.
Royal Liver was founded in 1850 as Liverpool Lyver Burial Society, which grew into today’s company.
The group was hit hard by the recession and in 2009 began looking for merger partners. Last year, it said it was in exclusive talks with Royal London, though the takeover talks took many months to complete due to the complexities of merging two mutuals.
Both groups hope the deal will complete at midnight on July 1 – days before the 100th anniversary of the opening of its landmark waterfront base, the Royal Liver Building.
