Legal & General estimates lower assets under management at March-end

(Reuters) - British life insurer Legal & General <LGEN.L> on Friday estimated a decline in total assets under management at its investment management arm at the end of first quarter.

The company said the unit, one of Britain's biggest investors, had estimated assets under management (AUM) of 1.14 trillion pounds in the three months to March, compared with 1.2 trillion pounds at the end of Dec. 31.

Legal & General said the unit saw external net flows of 10.6 billion pounds during the period.

Shares of the company fell about 3% to 185.7 pence as of 0901 GMT. They have declined nearly 40% so far this year.

The company said it was confident in its first-half outlook and that institutional demand for new business remained robust, despite the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

Legal & General, which said it was performing broadly in line with last year, intends to issue debt "taking account of current favourable debt market conditions".

Total gross written premiums at its insurance business rose 4% to 697.2 million pounds year-on-year, the company said.

(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)