Slaughter and May has reaffirmed its ties with Abbey, advising the bank on the £3.6bn sale this month of its life assurance business.
The firm has taken the lead role advising Abbey on the deal despite earlier fears it would lose the bank as a client after its £8.5bn takeover by Spanish banking giant Santander Central Hispano in 2004. The deal, which was announced on 8 June, sees the FTSE 100-listed UK bank offload its onshore and offshore life businesses as well as part of its asset management business to London-based financial services group Resolution.
