Lloyds Banking Group said Wednesday that it had sold Heidelberger Leben. The German life insurer was bought by a private equity group joint venture by Cinven and Hannover Re for EUR 300 million or GBP 257 million.Cinven is a leading European private equity firm. While Hannover RE, is a reinsurance leading group based in Germany.

Heidelberger Leben owns a portfolio of around 600,000 and EUR 5.2 billion worth of assets as of December 2012. With headquarters in Heidelberg, the company currently has 300 people under its employ.

The deal is expected to lead to a loss at disposal of around GBR 330 million in Lloyd's group of accounts. However, Lloyds anticipates a boost in its common equity tier 1 capital by around GBP 400 million once the transaction is completed, said group said in a statement. Proceeds of the sale will be expended for general company purposes. 

Lloyds Banking Group PLC is a foremost British financial establishment established through the purchase of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. As of March 2012, Her Majesty's Treasury holds 40% of shares through UK Financial Investments Limited. Lloyds is currently based in London.