Wealth management and Financial Planning group Quilter is planning to return £375m to shareholders following the sale of Quilter Life Assurance.

Quilter sold the business in August 2019 to ReAssure Group and raised a total of £445m from the sale including £20m in interest up to the completion date of 31 December.

The sale was structured under a mechanism which meant ReAssure effectively took control on 1 January 2020.

Allowing for costs and and other expenses associated with the sale, the board of Quilter said it considers the net remaining cash ‘surplus proceeds’ and has decided to distribute the windfall to shareholders.

Quilter says it will update the market on the method and timing of the capital return “as soon as practical” but before its full year results in March 2020.

Quilter plc oversees £110bn in customer investments and the business has a number of arms including a platform,  Quilter Financial Planning, Quilter Cheviot and Quilter Private Client Advisers.

Financial Planner Quilter has reported “strong” growth in assets under management and advice (AuMA) for the third quarter of 2019.