Fortis, the Dutch-Belgian financial services group, has set a price range for the $1.8bn (€1.4bn) flotation of Assurant, its US life insurance business, one of the biggest deals in the US pipeline for this year.

Morgan Stanley is the lead underwriter of the initial public offering (IPO) of 80 million shares which will be sold at between $20 and $22 each, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This values the company at about $4bn, which was in line with analyst expectations.