BRADSTOCK ANNOUNCES SALES TO ALEXANDER FORBES AND JLT

South African insurance and financial services group Alexander Forbes is to acquire some of UK-based Bradstock Group’s operations for £12.7m. The businesses include Bradstock’s retail insurance broking operations, which provide insurance broking and risk management advice to corporate and individual clients in the UK and Ireland from 10 regional offices. Also being bought are international events specialist Insurex Expo-sure and Bradstock Trustee Services, an independent pension trustee business. For the year to end-September 1999, these businesses generated total revenue of £18.1m and investment income of £400,000. The businesses of Hayward Till and Jensen Dickens will be retained by Bradstock. Alexander Forbes will not be taking on past liabilities of retail operating companies, which remain with Bradstock. The South Africa-based company noted that the acquisitions would complement its existing risk services operations in the UK and give it strong niche positions in insolvency, professional indemnity and specialist event insurance. Bradstock also announced that it was selling its marine and energy reinsurance broking business to UK-based JLT Risk Solutions (JLTRS), a subsidiary of the Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group, for a maximum £3m depending upon the brokerage and fee income earned by JLTRS from the business in the period to end-June 2001. For the year to end-September 1999, the portfolio to be acquired by JLTRS recorded revenue of £3.5m and a pre-tax profit on ordinary activities of £1.1m. Alistair Lockhart-Smith, managing director of Bradstock Ltd’s marine and energy reinsurance division, will be joining JLTRS along with a number of his team. Bradstock Group also revealed that Alan Williams was to stand down as its chairman and CEO by mutual agreement and that David Backhouse would retire as a non-executive director. Tony Fox will take over as chairman and chief executive.