Insurance

Old Mutual tries to lean on Skandia

10 Aug 2005

The South African insurer has used strong interims to talk up its organic prospects. The implication? A deal with Skandia isn't a musthave. That's probably a bit of a bluff: Skandia is a great fit strategically. But Old Mutual doesn't want to overpay.

Skandia should get Old Mutual on the hook

12 Jul 2005

By pursuing a breakup alongside a full sale, the Swedish insurer has teased a tentative, but realistic, offer from its South African rival. But if Skandia lets Old Mutual slip away, it then may find that a breakup generates less value than was potentially available.

Another tiny white knight emerges in Italy

1 Jul 2005

Lodi has already bid for Antonveneta, a relative giant. Now Italian insurer Unipol may bid for BNL, a bank three times its size. Trouble is, that could scupper Unipol s solvency capital. And, unlike Lodi and Antonveneta, this deal wouldn t make much industrial sense.

Offers roll in for all and parts of Skandia

21 Jun 2005

Old Mutual s talks for the Swedish insurer have generated broad interest from trade buyers. Skandia now has options including a fullblown sale or a breakup. Old Mutual s ambitions of grabbing it on the cheap may be in trouble.

Resolution goes public in Britannic merger

9 Jun 2005

The closed lifefund consolidators have few other options right now there is a sellers strike among the funds they might buy. This £2bn merger makes sense financially and strategically. The snag is that it appears to have two ambitious chief executives.

Toro’s E2bn IPO won’t make De Agostini rich

18 May 2005

The publishing group would have almost done better had it just told its broker to buy a portfolio of insurance stocks. That's partly because it hasn't turned Toro round. And partly because Fiat extracted too fat a premium when it sold.

Old Mutual mulls £3.5bn bid for Skandia

13 May 2005

This marks a change of strategy for the South African financial services group, which hoped to build its UK business by buying closed funds. But it was unable to compete with highly leveraged bid vehicles such as Resolution. A bid for the troubled life assurer may be its best bet.

Ouster of Pru’s Bloomer looks cack-handed

3 May 2005

It seems Pru's chairman Clementi backed away from ousting his CEO, despite sounding out successors in February. He later fired him anyway. Bloomer had to go after making too many uturns. But Clementi looks like just as much of a flipflopper.

Prudential in double irony

18 Apr 2005

This Wednesday s results would have been a big day for ousted chief Bloomer, providing evidence to justify his controversial rights issue. Not only will Bloomer be out of the frame. But the front man will be a director who lost out to an old rival in Bloomer s succession.

Prudential ousts Bloomer

24 Mar 2005

The chief executive lost the confidence of many investors after several uturns, including a £1bn rights issue to fund domestic expansion. But the rest of the board, led by chairman David Clementi, has done a uturn too. It publicly backed Bloomer six months ago.

Greenberg steps down as AIG boss

14 Mar 2005

Few companies have embodied the personality of their leader as AIG has that of Hank Greenberg. For decades that served shareholders well. But he failed to change with times. Trying to tough out the regulators was more than his independent directors could bear.

Aviva promises juicy synergies in £1.1bn RAC deal

9 Mar 2005

Forget revenue synergies. The UK insurer can justify the acquisition purely on the scope to improve the breakdown group's measly margins. The deal will bolster chief Richard Harvey s reputation for careful M&A. He may wish to exploit that by pursuing bigger deals overseas.

Prudential increases operating profits by 39%

2 Mar 2005

The UK insurer has also flagged up increasing repatriations of capital from its overseas operations. That gives credibility to the idea that Pru can keep financing growth once it has spent the £1bn raised in last year s rights issue.

L&G signals confidence in dividend

24 Feb 2005

The UK insurer has been dogged by questions about the sustainability of its payout. In response, it s raised the dividend above inflation. But low dividend cover and an impending change of chief executive mean fears of a dividend cut could resurface.

Osmond sees off rival bid for HHG life fund

10 Feb 2005

The entrepreneur killed Resolution s possible counterbid, raising his £1bn offer by 5%. It should cheer other closed funds looking to sell. Next time round, anyone selling a closed life fund should run a properly structured auction.

Is the closed-life arbitrage closing?

4 Feb 2005

The UK life industry has been dumping closed books at huge discounts to net asset value. But the possible bidding war for HHG s £1bnplus fund suggests buyers may already be arbitraging away the easy pickings.

Osmond prepares ballsy plan for HHG life assets

10 Dec 2004

The leisure entrepreneur has paid £1bn to secure the UK s largest closed life fund deal. That s a rich price. To make it pay he must boost returns on the fund s £26bn asset base, using derivatives or even hedge funds. Will the regulator let him?

Allianz ups Dresdner guidance

12 Nov 2004

The task now is for Dresdner to earn its cost of capital. That will require a stepup in the performance of investment banking unit DKW. The German insurer s troublesome bank is going to break even this year even if you include restructuring costs.

Zurich must take Converium litigation seriously

10 Nov 2004

Trying to prove the Swiss insurer is liable for the problems of Converium, the reinsurer it spun off in 2001, is a highly ambitious task. But the materiality of Converium s problems strengthens the hand of litigants, especially if they can mobilise its institutional investors.

Munich Re drops E2bn profit forecast

8 Nov 2004

The world s largest reinsurer has decided that its key performance goal for 2004 is now just a stretch target. Yet its latest results aren t so bad that they necessitate this. New CEO Nikolaus von Bomhard seems to be covering himself.