BPE in Birmingham part leads £71m insurance sell-off
BARCLAYS Private Equity has sold FirstAssist Insurance Services Ltd for £71m to US firm Cigna in a deal part-led in Birmingham.
FirstAssist is a white labelled insurance provider, employing 480 people at its headquarters in Sutton, Surrey. It also has offices in Plymouth and Bournemouth. The company delivers travel, budget health, protection and legal insurance products for financial institutions, retailers and affinity groups to provide to their customers mainly under their own brands.
Before-the-event (BTE) legal expenses insurance and other legal protection products and services are provided through FirstAssist Legal Protection Ltd which is another company in the group.
BPE retains ownership of the after-the-event legal expenses provider FirstAssist Legal Expenses Insurance Ltd, which was demerged from the group in February 2011. After-the-event (ATE) legal expenses is a specialist policy marketed through solicitors.
FirstAssist was acquired by BPE and its management team in 2003 as part of the larger £147m management buyout of FirstAssist Group from Royal & Sun Alliance.
Under BPE’s ownership, FirstAssist strengthened its personal and commercial product range, focusing on tailoring insurance products for white label clients. Figures for the year to December 31, 2010 show the holding company for FirstAssist reported operating profit of £5.8m on net earned premiums of £153m.
Martin Totty, group managing director of FirstAssist, said: “Barclays Private Equity has been an excellent partner in developing the business over the last eight years, supporting us in building a profitable, sustainable business.”
BPE director Catherine Wall, based in the firm’s Birmingham office, said: “The sale of FirstAssist Insurance Services represents the near total disposal of our original 2003 investment, and we are pleased with the results of our investment strategy to split the business into more specialist separate companies, and to find different buyers for each of them.”
This exit was led by Ms Wall and Andrew Backen of BPE, the original investment was led by Owen Clarke. They were supported by Sue Woodman, internal legal counsel. Completion is subject to standard regulatory clearances. BPE was advised by Clifford Chance (legal); Hawkpoint (financial adviser); PwC (financial due diligence); KPMG (actuarial due diligence). Cigna was advised by Hogan Lovells (legal). FirstAssist Insurance was advised by Grant Thornton (tax) and Travers Smith (legal).
