Admiral sells car insurance direct to the public and employs 1200 staff in South Wales. Launched in 1993, the business has grown rapidly to a current annual turnover approaching £200m with 500,000 customers. Brockbank (part of Bermuda based XL Capital Ltd) has accepted a bid from the management team, led by Managing Director, Henry Engelhardt, and Pricing & Marketing Director, David Stevens. The offer, backed by Barclays Private Equity, values the whole business at £60 - 80 million, depending on performance. Earlier this year Admiral was named "Welsh Company of the Year".
A proposal from the Zenith management team, led by Active Underwriter Ken Acott, to acquire the Zenith business has also been accepted in principle. Zenith is a long-established motor insurer employing 136 staff in Haywards Heath, West Sussex and distributing its products through the broker and intermediary channel. The business has a turnover of £65m representing approximately 175,000 policies covering standard and non-standard private car, motorcycle and taxi insurance. The team will acquire the assets and liabilities and will conduct the run-off of the existing business on terms expected to produce a broadly neutral result.
Brockbank has been advised by Lehman Brothers in respect of both transactions, which are subject to a number of conditions including satisfactory completion of due diligence, negotiation and all necessary Lloyd's approvals.
Commenting on the transactions, Brockbank CEO, Mark Brockbank said:
"Admiral is one of the great success stories of Lloyd's recent history and we are proud at Brockbank of having built the business to its current position in the UK motor market. However, exiting the UK motor market at this juncture will allow us to focus on our core
strengths - Specialty Lines around the globe. The sale will result in a welcome windfall for its supporting Members in Lloyd's."
"The Brockbank Group plc is a wholly owned subsidiary of XL Capital Ltd ("XL"). Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, including XL Insurance Ltd, XL Mid Ocean Reinsurance Ltd, XL Capital Products and NAC RE, XL provides insurance and reinsurance coverages and financial products worldwide. As of June 18,1999, XL had consolidated assets of approximately $14.1 billion and consolidated shareholders' equity of $5.6 billion.
This release may contain forward looking statements. Such statements are based on current plans, estimates and expectations and involve certain risks and uncertainties. In particular either or both transactions may not complete, or complete on different terms as a result of failure to obtain regulatory approvals, or to complete satisfactory due diligence or to negotiate acceptable terms between the parties or with third parties or howsoever. Neither XL nor The Brockbank Group undertake any duty to update publicly any forward looking statements contained herein in the light of new information or future developments."