Swiss Life, the insurer, today announced it has acquired a 26.75 per cent stake in MLP, the German investment adviser, but denied it was planning to make a hostile bid for the group.

The insurance group paid €307 million (£244 million) to buy the MLP stake from Carsten Maschmeyer, the founder of AWD, the German financial services company.

Swiss Life recently spent €1 billion buying out most of AWD, and the insurer's acquisition of a stake in MLP has sparked rumours of a full blown takeover of the group.

Rolf Doering, chief executive at Swiss Life, said today: “We greatly regret that the impression has arisen that we are planning a hostile takeover of MLP. That is out of the question.”

“But I am convinced that the MLP management and supervisory boards are fully prepared to enter into dialogue. We’re bound to make contact very soon.”

Fabrizio Croce, an analyst at Landsbanki Kepler, said: “Swiss Life has demonstrated it can become very irrational when resources and targets are available.

“We question ... if Swiss Life is the best owner for this asset, despite the current valuation being half the one in 2005.”

Shares in both companies fell, with Swiss Life shares down 7.9 per cent to SwFr251 while MLP shed 7 per cent to €12.88.

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