International specialty insurance and reinsurance products provider Lancashire Holdings has entered into a conditional agreement to acquire Cathedral Capital Limited, a privately owned Lloyd's insurer, in a deal worth £266m in cash.
As per terms of the transaction, Lancashire will acquire Cathedral from Alchemy Partners and the other Cathedral shareholders, using both its available cash and the proceeds of a share placement of 16,843,382 new common shares.
Lancashire CEO Richard Brindle said, "The deal will broaden our business line exposure, and strengthens and diversifies our core underwriting."
Post-acquisition, the acquirer will get two Lloyd's of London Lloyd's syndicates, including Cathedral Syndicates 2010 and 3010, while giving large re/insurance market conditions with improved distribution capabilities.
"The transaction represents a rare opportunity to acquire a high-quality Lloyd's business with a short-tail focus, strong business model fit and robust underwriting performance," the company said in a statement.
Moreover, the deal will offer the acquirer the scale in its existing lines of business, new capital resources, while assisting to build further organic growth opportunities.
The acquirer said that Lloyd's global access will deliver the opportunity to expand into new business markets through its existing licenses, leveraging Lloyd's market infrastructure and support services.
Following completion of the acquisition, which is pending shareholder and regulatory approvals, Cathedral will continue to be managed by its existing senior management team.