There's no end in sight to Clive Cowdery's Resolutions. Mark 1 ended up with Hugh Osmond's Pearl Group in a top-of-the-market deal in 2008. Mark 2, Resolution Ltd, is the FTSE 100 owner of Friends Life, where things are looking better after an iffy start. Now here comes the third adventure in mopping up unloved insurance business. Resolution Life Holdings, the first expedition into the US, is to buy Lincoln Benefit Life for $600m (£394m).
One can understand why Cowdery insists on using the same name for companies that are entirely unrelated in terms of ownership and operations. It's a branding thing and helps when recruiting a fresh set of investors. On his American tour, for example, Cowdery will have been able to point to the FTSE 100 for evidence that he's a serious player.
But the excess of Resolutions makes life unnecessarily complicated for the rest of us. Resolution Ltd should change its name to Friends Life. It would avoid confusion and, anyway, calling yourself by your consumer-facing name is usually sensible.
