Friends gets go-ahead for F&C demerger

LONDON (Reuters) - Life insurer Friends Provident FP.L will this month hand its majority stake in asset manager F&C (FCAM.L) to its own investors after receiving final court approval for the plan.

Friends shareholders will receive one F&C share for every 10 Friends shares they hold, with the transfer to be completed by July 17 at the latest, the company said on in a statement on Friday.

Friends shares were changing hands at 62.7 pence by 11:35 a.m., down 5.3 pence from Thursday's closing price of 68 pence.

Analysts had expected the stock to fall by about 6.5 pence to reflect the loss of income from Friends' 52 percent F&C stake.

Excluding the impact of the demerger, Friends shares were up 1.8 pct.

"I think it'll please people that this has finally gone through," said Shore Capital analyst Eamonn Flanagan.

Friends originally tried to sell its F&C holding, but was forced to cancel the disposal last year after the global financial crisis deterred potential buyers.

The deteriorating economic environment also forced Friends to pull the sale of Lombard, its upmarket wealth management operation, and financial advisory business Pantheon.

Friends Provident chief executive Trevor Matthews, and Adrian Montague, its chairman, will step down from the F&C board once the demerger is complete. However, F&C chief executive Alain Grisay will remain in the role, Friends said.

(Reporting by Myles Neligan; Editing by David Cowell)