The life company will list separately as Chesnara Plc. The group will also complete the return of £100.5m of capital to shareholders in the form of a capital repayment plus a final dividend.
Countrywide Plc will join the Real Estate sector of the FTSE and dominate the subsector Property Agencies. The new company will be a focused property services company consisting principally of the following operations:
Estate Agents: the largest network of estate agents in the UK comprising over 950 offices.
Surveyors: the UK's largest residential surveying and valuation practice, providing services principally for lenders.
Financial Services: arranging mortgages and insurance products. This business arranged £4.6bn of mortgages in 2003 on behalf of its panel of mortgage lenders.
Conveyancing: one of the largest residential conveyancing businesses in the UK.
Countrywide has recently noted robust trading in the housing market and will report results for the six months to the 30th June 2004 in August.
