HELIOS UNDERWRITING PLC

M&A Activity • Feb 16, 2015

National Storage Mechanism | Additional information

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RNS Number : 9342E

Helios Underwriting Plc

16 February 2015

16 February 2015

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 agreed to acquire Updown Underwriting Limited, a limited liability member of Lloyd's ("LLV") for a total consideration of £0.6 million in cash and 429,839 new ordinary shares in the Company.  The 2015 underwriting capacity of the LLV is £0.9 million; this compares with HUW's 2015 capacity of £21.4 million prior to this acquisition.  Completion is subject to change of control consent from Lloyd's.  The LLV participates in a spread of Lloyd's syndicates broadly similar to HUW's own participation.

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

"We are delighted to have agreed a further LLV acquisition which will further increase 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 - Chief Executive	020 7863 6655 / nigel.hanbury@huwplc.com
Smith & Williamson Corporate Finance David Jones	020 7131 4000
Westhouse Securities Robert Finlay	020 7601 6100

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 approximately £21 million of capacity for the 2015 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

Updown Underwriting Limited ("Updown") is a limited liability member of Lloyd's which HUW has agreed to acquire from Nicholas Wentworth Stanley; in the year ended 31 December 2013, Updown made a profit before tax of £0.2 million on gross premiums written of £0.8 million.  Updown's expected net asset value at completion is approximately £1.3 million, including underwriting capacity with an estimated market value of £0.4 million.

Set out below are Updown's 2012 and 2013 open years of account forecasts:

YOA	Updown syndicate capacity (£'000)	Forecast of syndicate profit (30 September 2014)
Mid point (£'000)	Mid point (%)	Range (%)
2012	902	114	12.63%	9.38 - 15.87%
2013	927	87	9.40%	5.09 - 13.70%

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

Set out below are details of Updown's syndicate participations for the 2012 to 2015 years of account:

YOA	2012		2013			2014		2015
Syndicate	(£'000)	(%)*	(£'000)	(%)*		(£'000)	(%)*	(£'000)	(%)*
33	88	9.7%	88	9.5%	92		10.0%	92	10.7%
218	52	5.8%	52	5.6%	52		5.6%	42	4.8%
386	24	2.7%	24	2.6%	24		2.6%	21	2.4%
510	137	15.2%	137	14.8%	137		14.8%	137	15.9%
609	41	4.6%	41	4.4%	41		4.4%	41	4.8%
623	111	12.3%	117	12.6%	126		13.6%	117	13.6%
727	63	7.0%	63	6.8%	63		6.8%	63	7.3%
958	50	5.5%	39	4.2%	31		3.4%	33	3.8%
1176	38	4.2%	38	4.1%	38		4.1%	38	4.4%
2010	105	11.6%	105	11.3%	105		11.3%	92	10.6%
2014	-	-	-	-	46		5.0%	40	4.6%
2791	108	11.9%	108	11.6%	95		10.2%	84	9.7%
6103	21	2.3%	26	2.8%	19		2.1%	8	0.9%
6104	28	3.1%	36	3.9%	36		3.9%	36	4.1%
6106	18	2.0%	21	3.5%	-		-	-	-
6110	18	2.0%	33	3.5%	-		-	-	-
6111	-	-	-	-	20		2.2%	19	2.2%
Total	902	100.0%	927	100.0%	927		100.0%	863	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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