LV= has completed the sale of its general insurance business to Allianz Group.

The Dorset insurer has received a total of £1.07billion for the business under a two-stage deal which began in December 2017.

LV= announced in May 2017 that it was joining with Allianz to create the third biggest personal insurer in the UK.

The first phase of the deal saw Allianz pay £500million for a 49 per cent stake in LV=’s general insurance business.

Allianz was originally due to acquire 69.9 per cent of the business in the second phase, but LV= later exercised an option to sell its remaining shares.

A statement issued on New Year’s Eve said: “Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society (LV=) announces that it has completed the planned sale of its remaining 51 percent stake in its UK General Insurance businesses (LV=GI) to Allianz Group.

“Total consideration received by LV= for 100 per cent of LV=GI is up to £1.078bn.

“This follows the announcement of the transaction by LV= on May 31 2019.”

The sale of the general insurance business was steered by LV=’s outgoing chief executive Richard Rowney.

When it was announced in December that he was standing down, Mr Rowney said: “After 13 memorable years with LV= and the successful sale of our general insurance business to Allianz, now felt like the appropriate time to step aside and seek a new opportunity outside of the society.”

In its last results in August, LV= revealed that pre-tax profits rose to £35million for the six months to June 30, up 191 per cent on the same period in 2018, despite a downturn in sales for its life and pensions business.