Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and King & Spalding have advised on the sale of Equitable Life – the UK's oldest mutual life insurer – to European life assurance group Life Company Consolidation Group (LCCG).

The deal will see the company – which manages assets of £6.3bn – absorbed into LCCG's UK-based life insurance arm, Reliance Life, with Equitable's remaining 300,000 policyholders each receiving a share of a £1.8bn capital distribution.

Equitable Life has had a troubled recent history. In 2000, the company was saved from the brink of collapse and closed to new business, and in the years that followed, parts of it were sold off to buyers including Prudential and Canada Life.

The Freshfields team was led by global transactions partner George Swan, assisted by dispute resolution partners Neil Golding and Craig Montgomery. The deal represents the first time the magic circle outfit has advised the company.

King & Spalding, meanwhile, advised LCCG with a London team led by corporate partner William Charnley, alongside employment partner Jules Quinn, regulatory partner Angela Hayes and tax partner Daniel Friel.

Following the acquisition, Equitable's existing policyholders will move across to Reliance Life and are expected to benefit from an increase in the current 35% capital distribution to between 60% and 70%.

Equitable, which was founded in 1762, will now cease to exist. Chairman Ian Brimecome said it would be "sad to bring an end to the oldest mutual insurer in the world", but that he felt that the Reliance Life deal made for "a compelling way forward".