Apollo, CVC Seek Initial Public Offering of Insurer Brit Group

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Brit Insurance Holdings B.V., a Lloyd’s of London insurer owned by Apollo Global Management LLC and CVC Capital Partners Ltd., is planning an initial public offering in London next month.

A minimum of 25 percent of the company will be sold to investors, with private-equity owners remaining the largest shareholders, Brit said in a statement today. Management and employees will also sell some of the stock.

The company, which provides insurance and reinsurance and focuses on property, casualty and energy coverage, was bought by Apollo and CVC for about £888 million ($1.48 billion) in 2011. Brit sold some regional U.K. units in 2012 and former Lloyd’s CEO Richard Ward joined as non-executive chairman last month.

“We are very pleased to be bringing Brit to the market following a period of successful change for the business,” Brit CEO Mark Cloutier said in the statement. “We have laid strong foundations for continued outperformance.”

Brit posted a 20 percent increase in 2013 profit after tax to £101.7 million [$169.7 million] from the year-earlier period. The company said it expects to provide an interim dividend of £25 million [$41.7 million] for 2014, representing a third of its planned annual payout.

Investor appetite for European equities helped companies raise about $35 billion in IPOs last year, more than double what they sold in 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s carried into 2014 as economic conditions are becoming more favorable, with U.K. consumer confidence at its highest since 2007.

JPMorgan Cazenove is sole sponsor of the IPO and joint bookrunner with UBS AG. Canaccord Genuity Ltd. and Numis Securities Ltd. are co-lead managers.

–Editor: Jon Menon