Breaking up the estate

With Equitable Life looking into selling its £8 billion with-profits book, and both Aviva and Prudential reviewing the status of the inherited estate on their respective with-profits fund, the writing appears to be on the wall for the beleagured product. But is it really the end for with-profits? Aaron Woolner reports

Last year both Norwich Union and Prudential were looking to arrest the precipitous decline in the UK's with-profits sector by maximising the role of the inherited estate of their open funds. Norwich Union's plan hinged on the offer of inflation-linked guarantees subsidised from the estate, while Prudential was looking to fine tune the investment policy for the estate as a means of boosting returns from the main fund (Life & Pensions, February 2006, p6).

But 12 months on, it appears that all bets