Royal London Group, the mutually-owned UK insurer, announced the agreement of a £219m acquisition of its fellow mutual The Co-Operative Group's life insurance businesses, including its asset-management arm. The deal takes Royal London Asset Management from £50bn under management to £70bn, and adds Co-op's strength in socially-responsible investments to its capabilities in bonds. The deal, which was first mooted in late 2010, has taken over two years to work out, and is still dependent on approval by Royal London's members at an extraordinary general meeting scheduled for "mid 2013". Royal London said it "expects to comment further on the completion of the transaction later in the year."