Global non-life specialty insurer R&Q Insurance Holdings has confirmed that it is now in advanced talks regarding a potential sale of its Accredited program Management business to private equity investment manager Onex Corporation.
The news was reported last night and this morning R&Q has filed a stock exchange announcement confirming its validity.
That move meant that Accredited and R&Q Legacy could be operated under two separate holding companies, while R&Q also noted the separation was a requirement for Accredited to receive its own separate subgroup financial strength rating from AM Best.
However, R&Q had also said at the time that it was still looking for possible strategic transactions with a third party that could enable Accredited to operate independently and that a process was already underway back in June for the potential sale of Accredited, with interest already expressed by a number of parties.
So, this morning the Board of R&Q Insurance Holdings Ltd. acknowledged the media story from last night, regarding a potential sale of the Accredited program management business.
Noting, “The Board confirms that it is in an advanced stage of discussions with Onex Corporation (“Onex”) regarding a potential sale of Accredited.”
The company said a further announcement will be made, if and when appropriate.
A sale of the program management business will allow R&Q to realise the value of Accredited, while also enabling it to focus on the core legacy business that had been the firm’s heritage.
For Onex, a leading Canadian private equity investor, adding another insurance interest to its portfolio will give it access to another part of the insurance and reinsurance value-chain, having previously invested in Convex, Cypress P&C, Ryan Specialty Group, USI, among other insurance-linked opportunities.
