In a rare stand, co-op members of Norway Life insurance giant, KLP, have voted down a demutualisation option by a vote of one.

"It is very rare for a demutualisation to be voted down, to my knowledge it has only happened once before (Standard Life in the UK). This is a credit to Per Koppang, Head of corporate finance with Terra Securities ASA and his team who have fought vigorously against the demutualisation for the past three years," said Shaun Tarbuck of ICMIF.

It was estimated that the cost of the demutualisation campaign was in excess of Eur 30 million, not including the management time spent. KLP Forsikring is one of Norway's largest financial services groups. The Group provides insurance and financial services to municipalities, health enterprises, and companies in the public sector. Most health enterprises, municipalities and county municipalities in Norway have their employees insured with KLP. The Group has total assets of approximately NOK 140 billion.