Failed Bain Capital takeover bid cost LV= £33m
LV=’s failed bid to sell itself to US private equity firm Bain Capital cost the mutual insurer more than £33m, the firm revealed today.
Full year figures from the Westbourne headquartered insurer show LV= paid out £21m in costs in 2021 in addition to the £12m it paid out in 2020 and a small amount in 2022.
LV=’s results also revealed that LV= chief executive Mark Hartigan received total remuneration of £1.01m in 2021 – including a £511,000 bonus on top of his £435,000 salary – down from £1.2m in 2020.
Hartigan’s million pound payout came in spite of the fact LV=’s earnings dropped 21 per cent in 2021 amid the collapse of the Bain Capital deal.
The revelations come after LV=’s 1.2m members rejected plans to sell the mutual insurer to the Boston based private equity firm for £530m last year.
At the time, Hartigan said the 179-year-old insurer had to demutualise to survive.
However, only 69 per cent of LV=’s members backed the plan, leaving management short of the 75 per cent supermajority needed to complete the sale.
In the midst of the insurers efforts to persuade its members to back the deal last year, LV=’s plan to sell itself to Bain Capital came under fire from politicians concerned about putting LV= in the hands of a private equity firm.
Members also hit out at LV=’s offer to pay a paltry £100 to each member on completion of the deal, as they questioned the management’s motives.