LV= chairman quits after members reject £530m Bain Capital takeover
Alan Cook has stepped down as chairman of mutual insurer Liverpool Victoria after failing to secure the backing of members for a £530m deal with a US private equity firm.
Cook resigned within minutes of the vote results being announced, revealing that 69 per cent of LV= members who voted supported the deal, which needed 75 per cent of votes in order to move forward with the deal.
Although 1.2m policyholders could have cast their votes in the ballot, only 15 per cent actually did – marking the general discontent with the contentious deal that has been the subject of widespread scrutiny by members, politicians and the media, over recent weeks.
“Whilst approximately 70 per cent of LV=’s members voted for our proposal, we respect this outcome is not enough for our transaction to proceed,” said a Bain spokesperson following the results of the vote.
The mutual insurer is now instead in discussion with its competitor Royal London about a potential deal.
Royal London confirmed that it had offered to start “immediate and exclusive discussions with LV= to agree a mutual merger that will offer LV= customers the opportunity to have their life savings protected”.