LV=
(Picture: PA Archive)Insurance company LV= has moved to shore up its board in the wake of the failed sale to private equity group Bain Capital and confirmed that one of the architects of the botched attempt, chairman Alan Cook, has stepped down.
The financial services provider has appointed Suzy Neubert, an independent director at Witan Investment Trust, and Natalie Ceeney, former chief executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), as non-executive directors.
Cook leaves with immediate effect and will be replaced by Seamus Creedon, who takes the position of interim chair.
Creedon said today: “As interim chair, my first task in refreshing the board was to bring in new directors who will continue to develop LV= as a growing mutual insurer. In Natalie and Suzy we have two highly experienced, independent directors who will bring a wealth of expertise to the board.”
Subject to regulatory approval, Neubert and Ceeney will join the LV= board on 1 March 2022. The pair replace board members David Barral, Alison Hutchinson and Luke Savage who confirmed their intention to step down earlier this year.
The board clear out comes in the wake of the failed sale of Bain last year. In partnership with chief executive Mark Hartigan, Cook made the attempt to sell the 179-year old mutual to Bain in December last year.
However, the pair failed to gain the required 75% of shareholder votes to green light. The deal received just a 69% share of votes from LV’s 1.16 million members.
As a result, the controversial deal - valued at £530m - dramatically fell through.
Only last month LV= confirmed that further take-over talks with competitor Royal London had also collapsed after it showed an interest in acquiring the company following the withdrawal of the Bain bid.
Royal London had initially bid against Bain for LV= only to have its offer rejected, but it was invited back to the negotiating table.
The process to recruit a permanent chair is now underway at the insurer.
