LV= has confirmed it has held “discussions” with fellow mutual Royal London following the unsuccessful sale of the Bournemouth-based insurer to Bain Capital.
A proposed £530m sale of the 179-year-old firm, formerly known as Liverpool Victoria, to the US private equity firm did not go through after not enough policyholders voted to back the deal at a special general meeting in December.
This was despite bosses at LV= advising support for the deal, with executive Mark Hartigan telling BusinessLive ahead of the vote it had been the only one on the table that would protect about 1,000 jobs in the South West, including around 700 at its Bournemouth base and about 275 in its Exeter office.
On Monday (February 7) LV= announced several changes to its board of directors, with Seamus Creedon set to take over as interim chair from Alan Cook, who announced he would be stepping down following the vote in December.
Mr Creedon said LV= members had sent a message to the board that the “modest financial advantages” of the Bain transaction were not worth their loss of ownership and voting rights.
Mr Creedon said the company had listened to members' feedback, with many saying they valued its “proud history” as a mutual and were keen to see this continue.
Mr Creedon said: “We share a common interest with Royal London in a healthy and vibrant mutual sector so that we can both compete fairly with shareholder-owned firms.
“We have had, and continue to have, discussions with Royal London about if and how we can co-operate to the benefit of both sets of members and the mutual sector.
“In the meantime, we will continue to strengthen our independent business for the benefit of our existing and future policyholders.”
In a statement also released on Monday, Royal London confirmed it had held “initial, exploratory discussions” with LV=, but there was “no certainty” these would result in a transaction.
Royal London added any further further announcement would be made “as and when appropriate.”
LV= previously rebuffed a bid from Royal London ahead of the vote on Bain’s offer, with Mr Hartigan describing the move as a “hand grenade to disrupt the process”.
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