Equitas in last major asbestos payment

Equitas has reached a settlement with its largest remaining direct claimant on asbestos reserves. The deal is reported to cost Equitas $415mn in a payment that will end its liabilities with US firm Babcock & Wilcox. Babcock & Wilcox came out of bankruptcy last year with $1.75bn in assets ringfenced to pay asbestos-injury claims. The latest asbestos payment takes Equitas’s total payments to around $7bn since it took over Lloyd’s claims in 1996.