Australia's AUB to buy UK wholesale insurance broker Tysers for $620 mln (updated)

PSC Insurance

09/05/2022 24:48

(Adds details about deal, equity raising, agreement with PSC
Insurance)
    May 9 (Reuters) - Australian insurance broker AUB Group
 AUB.AX  said on Monday it would buy London-based Lloyd's
wholesale insurer broker Tysers for A$880 million ($620.5
million) to expand the range of its products.
    Tysers, the sixth largest wholesale broker in the Lloyd's
marketplace, has about 1,100 employees and writes annual gross
premiums of A$3.6 billion.
    "Tysers provides AUB Group the ability to access a diverse
range of risks and insurance types for our clients and broker
networks in Australia and New Zealand," AUB Chief Executive Mike
Emmett said in a statement.
    The deal is expected to increase AUB's underlying proforma
earnings per share by 30% and is expected to be completed in the
first half of 2023, AUB said. 
    The acquisition will be funded using a A$350 million equity
raising, a placement of shares worth A$176 million, and a new
A$675 million multi-currency debt facility, the company added.
    Separately, the company entered a non-binding term sheet
with PSC Insurance  PSI.AX  under which the insurance
intermediary business will buy a 50% stake in Tysers' UK retail
arm as a part of a 50:50 joint venture with AUB. 
    AUB also reaffirmed its fiscal 2022 financial forecast and
said it continues to target a dividend payout ratio in line with
its current range of 50-70%.
($1 = 1.4176 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Navya Mittal in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie
Adler and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
 ((Navya.Mittal@thomsonreuters.com;))