Jardine Lloyd Thompson buys up Towergate’s air insurance book
TOWERGATE, the struggling specialist insurance broker, has made the first in what is likely to be a series of disposals as the group looks to raise cash.
The broker sold Hayward Aviation, which arranges aircraft cover, to insurer Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) for £27m in cash, it was announced yesterday.
The deal comes in the wake of Towergate’s announcement that it is up for sale, made in mid-November. At the time, the group said if the business did not look likely to sell before the end of the year it would begin to break off core assets. This is the first in that process. The troubled firm reported pre-tax losses of £112.7m for the first three quarters of the year, compared with a loss of £19.1m over the same period of 2013.
Hayward, which arranges cover for regional airlines, small commercial fleets of fixed wing aircraft and helicopters, individual jets, light aircraft and helicopters, owned by private clients, made a pre-tax profit of £3m for the year ended 31 December 2013. It generated revenue of £10m.
Towergate has a history of acquisition sprees, having made over 300 since coming to the market in 1997. The specialist insurer employs around 5,400 people in the UK.