RMI and Sampo make £1.66bn takeover offer for UK insurer Hastings
RMI sees long-term value in the UK’s insurance market, while Sampo wants to expand out of its traditional markets
Rand Merchant Investment Holdings (RMI), which owns Outsurance, and Finnish insurer Sampo had made a joint takeover offer for British insurer Hastings, valuing it at £1.66bn (R37bn).
RMI and Outsurance, via jointly owned Mainstreet, have held 29.7% of Hastings since 2017, and would acquire an additional 0.3%, while Sampo would hold 70%.
The offer of 250 pence per Hastings share represents a 47.1% premium to the value of Hastings’s share on July 28, when it announced it had been approached with a takeover offer.
RMI would need to pay about £5.32m for its top-up transaction, funded from existing cash resources.
RMI said it saw long-term value in the UK’s insurance market, while Sampo is seeking to expand out of its traditional markets in the Nordic countries.
“Sampo believes that the UK, as the second-largest retail property and casualty market in Europe, offers an attractive scale opportunity,” the statement read.
In morning trade on Wednesday, RMI’s share was up 1.01% to R31.92, having risen 3.5% so far in 2020.
The offer is still subject to regulatory approval, with the parties saying on Wednesday that it was likely to become effective later in 2020.