Acquisition of Nottus No 51 Limited

RNS Number : 6013H

Helios Underwriting Plc

09 June 2017

 

Helios Underwriting plc

('Helios' or the 'Company')

Acquisition of Nottus No 51 Limited

Helios is pleased to announce that, in line with its strategy of increasing underwriting capacity through acquisition, on 8 June, following approval of change of control by Lloyd's of London ("Lloyd's"), it has agreed to acquire Nottus No 51 Limited ('Nottus'), a limited liability member of Lloyd's ('LLV') for a consideration of £964,500 in cash.

 Information in respect of Nottus

The 2017 underwriting capacity of Nottus is approximately £669,000 (this compares with Helios's 2017 capacity of £35m prior to this acquisition). Nottus participates in a spread of Lloyd's syndicates that broadly matches the existing portfolio of Helios and this transaction enables Helios to continue to build its participations on the better syndicates at Lloyd's.

The consideration represents a discount of 4.0% to the independent valuation of £1.0m placed on Nottus by Humphrey's.  Nottus is expected to have funds surplus to its current underwriting requirements of over £0.60m on completion which Helios will be able to utilise in the future.

The capacity acquired, together with the capacity Helios expects to retain, is as follows:

Nottus	Year of Account
	2015	2016	2017
	£m	£m	£m
Retained	0.62	0.63	0.20
Reinsured	-	-	0.47
Total Capacity	0.62	0.63	0.67

Helios will reinsure 70% of 2017 underwriting year in line with its stated policy of reducing 'on-risk' exposures.

Additional information

Nottus is a limited liability member of Lloyd's. In the year ended 31 December 2015, Nottus made a profit before tax of £102,674 on gross premiums written of £0.55m and its net asset value at that date was £0.54m.   Underwriting capacity with an estimated market value of £0.37m has been included in the transaction.

Set out below are Nottus's 2015 and 2016 open years of account forecasts:

YOA	Nottus syndicate capacity (£'000)		Forecast of Syndicate profit (31 March 2017)
		Mid-point  (£'000)	Mid-point  (%)	Range  (%)
2015	619	42	6.78	2.91 - 10.64
2016	634	14	2.15	(2.04) - 6.34

Source: Syndicate data and Helios analysis (before early release)

For further information please contact:

Helios

Nigel Hanbury - Chief Executive                                                              020 7863 6655 / [e-mail]

Arthur Manners - Chief Financial Officer                                              07754 965 917

Stockdale

Robert Finlay                                                                                                   020 7601 6100

David Coaten

About Helios

Helios provides a limited liability direct investment into the Lloyd's insurance market and is quoted on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market (ticker: HUW). Helios trades within the Lloyd's insurance market writing approximately £35m of capacity for the 2017 account. The portfolio provides a good spread of business being concentrated in property insurance and reinsurance. For further information please visit www.huwplc.com.

 

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