Australia’s biggest general insurer became Britain’s fifth-largest motor insurer yesterday, after snapping up Equity Insurance Group for more than half a billion pounds.
The £570 million sale to Insurance Australia Group (IAG) came just 18 months after Equity was taken private by Duke Street Capital and Englefield Capital, the venture capitalists, and Equity’s management team, at a cost of £428 million, including £130 million-worth of debt.
Seventy-seven senior managers who together held 20 per cent of Equity will receive a substantial windfall, while all staff in the company share scheme will land bonuses of between £500 and £2,000.
Duke Street and Englefield each owned 40 per cent of the insurer, after backing a takeover by Neil Utley, the present chief executive.
Colin Curvey, a partner