CBL Finalists Acquisition of Australian Insurer

CBL FINALISES ACQUISITION OF AUSTRALIAN INSURER

New Zealand-headquartered credit surety and financial risk insurer CBL Corporation Limited (CBL) today announced it has completed the NZ$46 million acquisition of the Australian specialty insurer Assetinsure Holdings Pty Ltd.

CBL Managing Director Peter Harris said: the acquisition, which received Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) approval in August, was an important strategic step in CBL’s plans to build its business in Australia.

“We can now distribute products in Australia through an APRA regulated entity, and introduce certain Assetinsure products and relationships into our existing international markets.”

Assetinsure is the largest surety bond insurer in Australia, and provides a range of speciality products including credit enhancement, surety bonds, specialised property insurance, aviation, and rural risk from its three offices in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.

“Currently our business is strongly weighted to Europe, which accounts for more than 70 percent of the business written by the company. We expect the purchase of Assetinsure will go some way towards broadening our operations,” said Mr Harris.

“We are excited to be able to utilise the knowledge and experience that the Assetinsure team has of the Australian market, and look forward to being able to apply some of our international products and knowledge into the Assetinsure distribution channels.”

Today’s announcement comes a day after CBL Corporation made a strong debut on both the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges. The company had earlier cited funding for growth, including the acquisition of Assetinsure, and increasing its regulatory capital as the primary reasons for its decision to list.

The Executive Director and largest shareholder of Assetinsure, Peter Wedgwood, said: “There is a lot of synergy between our two companies, and we are very pleased to become part of the Group. CBL’s global focus will provide us access to other markets.”

Assetinsure was advised on the transaction by Willis Capital Markets & Advisory; CBL by Bancorp.

ENDS

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