Apollo and CVC look to sell off Brit insurance
Insurance company Brit is close to being sold off by its private equity owners CVC and Apollo, it emerged last night.
Brit, a Lloyd’s of London insurer that specialises in underwriting complex products such as kidnapping insurance, is attracting several parties, including at least one from the US.
A source close to the deal said Brit had garnered strong interest from a number of groups in the past few weeks.
Apollo and CVC, acquired Brit in 2010 and then sold about 25 per cent of Brit through a float on the London stock exchange last year – valuing it up to £960m.
Brit’s share price dropped steadily in the weeks following its March 2014 float but then recovered and has grown 34 per cent since it bottomed out in mid-April last year – propelled in part ed by the prospect of a large dividend payout. However, shares were rather flat in the build up to the news and closed down 0.07 per cent yesterday.
An announcement from FTSE 250 listed Brit on specific details and the potential buyer or buyers could come as early as this morning, although the company declined to comment last night.
The firm’s current non-executive chairman Richard Ward is the former chief executive at Lloyd’s, the insurance giant.
Any sell-off would be another sign of the growing momentum towards mergers and acquisitions within the reinsurance market as competition keeps premiums low.