Helios Underwriting buys Lloyd's member for £2.24m

AIM-listed Helios Underwriting has bought Charmac Underwriting, a member of the Lloyd's of London insurance market, for £2.24m as part of its strategy to increase capacity through acquisition.

The acquisition was completed on Monday following approval by Lloyd's on the change of control of Charmac.

The £2.24m paid is a 5% discount on the independent valuation of £2.35m on Charmac by Humphrey's, an estate agent.

Charmac is expected to have funds surplus to its current underwriting requirements of over £1m which Helios aims to utilise in the future.

Its underwriting, which is £1.62m for 2017, will add to Helios’ capacity, which stood at £33.4m prior to the acquisition.

Charmac participates in a spread of Lloyd's syndicates that broadly matches Helios’ existing portfolio and the deal will enable Helios to build on the better syndicates at Lloyd's.

In 2015, Charmac made a pre-tax profit of £48,000 on gross premiums written of £1.32m and its net asset value was £1.2m, while its underwriting capacity of £680,00 was included in the transaction.