Saturday, October 22, 2011

UK - TAKAFUL - Takaful-focused insurer bought by run-off investment specialists

www.insuranceage.co.uk - Randall & Quilter has agreed to buy Principle Insurance for £4.275m cash.
Principle has been in run-off since October 2009. It was launched and received Financial Services Authority approval in 2008 with the aim of meeting the motor and home insurance needs of the country's Muslim population as the only Shariah-compliant insurance provider in Britain at the time.
The provider, which consists of almost entirely of Takaful motor insurance business, had net reserves of approximately £2.8m on 30 June 2011. The latest available audited accounts to 31 December 2010 revealed a net asset value of £5.1m.  (source)


It is the second occasion that the company has announced a sale having previously agreed to dispose of the business to the Al Salam Group with the stated intention at the time of re-commening trading.
Tom Booth, chief financial officer at Randall & Quilter told Insurance Age that the purchase, which will be managed by R&Q Insurance Services, was a good acquisition with relatively short-tail business.
"We aim to run it off effectively and to manage and pay the claims efficiently. Then to wind the company up and extract the [remaining] capital," he said.
Ken Randall, chief executive officer of Randall & Quilter, said of the acquisition: "We are pleased to have reached agreement to acquire Principle and it demonstrates our commitment to find new legacy portfolios which meet our return criteria and have shorter anticipated run-off profiles.
"We have commented that our pipeline has grown in recent times and it is pleasing to report that this heightened activity has now resulted in a run-off company purchase, subject to regulatory approval, expected to be received in the coming months."
Randall & Quilter has a portfolio of nine insurance companies in run-off, from the UK, US and Europe, with net assets £72.2m as at 30 June 2011.

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