HELIOS UNDERWRITING PLC

M&A Activity • Mar 28, 2014

National Storage Mechanism | Additional information

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RNS Number : 3940D

Helios Underwriting Plc

28 March 2014

28 March 2014

Helios Underwriting plc

("HUW" or the "Company")

Acquisition of Lloyd's Limited Liability Vehicle

HUW is pleased to announce that, in line with its strategy of increasing underwriting capacity through acquisition, it has acquired Bernul Limited, a limited liability member of Lloyd's ("LLV") for a total consideration of £0.8 million in cash.  The 2014 underwriting capacity of the LLV acquired is £0.8 million; this compares with HUW's 2014 capacity of £19.5 million prior to this acquisition.  The assets of the LLV acquired include associated funds at Lloyd's ("FAL") to support its underwriting activities of £0.4 million.

The LLV acquired participates in a spread of Lloyd's syndicates broadly similar to HUW's own participation.  It is anticipated that the LLV will be included in the Company's collateralised quota share reinsurance arrangement for the 2014 year of account.

Commenting upon the acquisition, Nigel Hanbury, the Company's Chief Executive Officer, said:

"We are delighted to have made a further LLV acquisition which further increases our underwriting capacity.  This is in line with our stated strategy of acquiring corporate members as suitable opportunities arise.  We continue to believe that there remain significant opportunities for further growth available to the Company."

For further information please contact:

HUW Nigel Hanbury	nigel.hanbury@huwplc.com
Smith & Williamson Corporate Finance David Jones	020 7131 4000
Westhouse Securities Robert Finlay Darren Vickers	020 7601 6100
Haggie Partners Peter Rigby	020 7562 4444

About HUW

HUW 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). HUW's subsidiary underwriting vehicles trade within the Lloyd's insurance market as corporate members of Lloyd's writing £20 million of capacity for the 2014 account. The portfolio provides a good spread of classes of business being concentrated in property insurance and reinsurance. For further information please visit www.huwplc.com.

Additional information

Bernul Limited ("Bernul") is a limited liability member of Lloyd's which the Company has acquired from Primafides (Suisse) SA; in the year ended 31 December 2012, Bernul made a profit before tax of £0.09 million on gross premiums written of £0.7 million.  Bernul's estimated net asset value at completion is approximately £0.8 million (based on 30 September 2013 syndicate forecasts) including an estimated market value of underwriting capacity of £0.3 million (based on the most recent relevant auction transactions) and tax provisions of £0.1 million.

Set out below is Bernul's 2011 closed year of account result and 2012 open year of account forecast:

YOA	Bernul syndicate capacity (£'000)	Previous forecast of syndicate profit (30 September 2013)			Current forecast of syndicate profit* (31 December 2013)
		Mid point (£'000)	Mid point (%)	Range (%)	Mid point (£'000)	Mid point (%)	Range (%)
2011	808	45	5.56%	2.37 - 8.75%	69	8.53%	N/A
2012	752	34	4.57%	0.57 - 8.57%	47	6.31%	2.31 - 10.31%

Source: Syndicate data and HUW analysis

*For 2011 this is the YOA result

Set out below are details of Bernul's syndicate participations for the 2011 to 2014 years of account:

YOA	2011		2012		2013		2014
Syndicate	(£'000)	(%)*	(£'000)	(%)*	(£'000)	(%)*	(£'000)	(%)*
33	113	14.0%	105	14.0%	105	12.7%	110	13.6%
218	40	5.0%	54	7.2%	54	6.5%	54	6.7%
308	65	8.0%	73	9.7%	70	8.5%	84	10.4%
510	110	13.6%	110	14.6%	110	13.3%	110	13.6%
557	30	3.7%	30	4.0%	30	3.6%	-	-
570	90	11.1%	-	-	-	-	-	-
609	38	4.7%	110	14.6%	110	13.3%	110	13.6%
623	116	14.4%	90	12.0%	94	11.4%	102	12.6%
727	70	8.7%	70	9.3%	70	8.5%	70	8.7%
2791	136	16.8%	110	14.6%	110	13.3%	97	12.0%
6103	-	-	-	-	13	1.6%	10	1.2%
6104	-	-	-	-	20	2.4%	20	2.5%
6111	-	-	-	-	40	4.8%	40	5.0%
Totals	808	100.0%	752	100.0%	826	100.0%	807	100.0%

* Percentage of total syndicate portfolio

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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