LONDON (Bloomberg) — Legal & General Group Plc, Britain’s fourth-biggest insurer, said it has about $1 billion ($1.89 billion) of excess capital that it may redistribute to shareholders.“As we achieve greater clarity from current regulatory and taxation consultations, we will put the appropriate structure in place to enable this to form the basis of a return to shareholders over the coming years,” said chief executive officer Tim Breedon in a statement.

The London-based insurer also said it will create a new company to assume its pension and annuity business liabilities this year in a change to its capital structure, the company added.

Legal & General said it has benefited from property and equity gains. The company raised $805 million in a share sale in October 2002. Since then, the FTSE 100 Index of stock has gained 57 percent.

Legal & General shares fell two percent to 146 pence at 2.30 p.m. in London, giving the company a market value of $9.5 billion. The shares are up 24 percent this year.