Legal & General (L&G) has sold its US protection business to Japanese life insurer, Meiji Yasuda, and announced the creation of a long-term strategic partnership between the two for $2.3bn.

L&G and Meiji Yasuda will collaborate to seize the market opportunity in US Pension Risk Transfer and drive asset management growth globally, including by co-investing in private markets.

Meiji Yasuda also intends to acquire a 5% shareholding in L&G.

L&G stated: “We anticipate an additional share buyback of £1bn following completion of the transaction – which means that, over the next three years, we’ll return ~40% of our market cap to our shareholders, through a combination of dividends and buybacks.

“This transformative transaction demonstrates our continued momentum as a growing, simpler, and better-connected company.”

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