Chesnara to focus on UK, Dutch acquisitions as H1 profit jumps

Aug 31 (Reuters) - British life insurance takeover specialist Chesnara Plc (LSE: CSN.L - news) said it would focus on acquisitions in Britain and the Netherlands but was open to opportunities in other regions.

"The benefits (of entering new regions) would need to outweigh the challenge of adding another regulatory environment," Chairman Peter Mason said, as the firm announced a jump in first half pretax profit.

The company, based in the English city of Preston (Other OTC: PSNP - news) , said in June it could move its headquarters to the Netherlands or Sweden depending on the regulatory situation after Britain leaves the European Union but said it had "no current intention to do so".

"Having established regulated entities in several European countries together with the fact we do not trade or share resource across territories, means I remain of the view that whatever the outcome from the Brexit negotiations, we expect it to have little direct impact on our business model," Mason (Shenzhen: 002654.SZ - news) said.

Chesnara, which mainly buys life insurance funds closed to new customers, reported a surge in first-half pretax profit driven by strength in its domestic business and gains from its acquisition of Legal and General Nederland.

IFRS pretax profit rose to 51.6 million pounds ($67 million) in the six months ended June 30, from 200,000 pounds a year earlier.

($1 = 0.7741 pounds) (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Edmund Blair)