Deutsche Bank nears sale of UK insurance unit to Phoenix Group

(Reuters) - Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE) is nearing a deal to sell its British insurance business Abbey Life Assurance Co to Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX.L), a person close to the matter told Reuters.

Britain's largest consolidator of closed life funds is planning to raise 800 million pounds ($1.1 billion) to fund the purchase, which will be finalised in the next couple of weeks, the person said.

Phoenix Group Holdings and Deutsche Bank declined to comment.

The German lender began weighing the sale of Abbey Life in October last year, attracting interest from Swiss Re AG (SRENH.S) unit Admin Re, Phoenix and Legal & General Group Plc (LGEN.L) among others, sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters.

In March, the Financial Conduct Authority launched an investigation into Abbey Life's treatment of long-time life insurance customers which could result in compensation payments to policyholders or fines for the British insurer.

Abbey Life, which was bought by Deutsche Bank for 977 million pounds in 2007, is valued at about 1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion), sources told Reuters in June.

(Reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru and Arno Schuetze in Frankfurt; editing by David Clarke)