Venture capitalist aims to maintain compound 11.9% growth in net asset value
Specialist venture capitalist BP Marsh expects to complete an investment in a non-UK insurance broker tomorrow, according to chairman Brian Marsh.
The company announced this morning in its results for the year to 31 January 2013 that it was close to making a new investment. Marsh confirmed to Insurance Times that it would be an insurance broker.
BP Marsh is looking for new investments after it agreed to sell 80% of its stake in London-based broking group Hyperion to private equity house General Atlantic for £29.2m.
The valuation of the Hyperion stake was the main driver of BP Marsh’s 55.7% profit rise to £5.5m in the 2012-13 financial year.
Marsh said the opportunities to invest in insurance brokers globally were “considerable”.
He commented: “As world financial markets get more sophisticated, the opportunities and the threats grow so the chances for insurance brokers improve.”
BP Marsh’s net asset value increased by 10.6% to £55.5m in 2012-13 (2011-12: £50.1m) and its net asset value a share increased to 190p (2011-12: 171p).
The compound annual growth rate in net asset value since BP Marsh’s formation in 1990 has been 11.9%, and Marsh hopes this will continue.
He said: “We are aiming to maintain that 11.9% increase in net asset value in the current year if we can.”
BP Marsh holds a variety of stakes in brokers, including a 36.71% shareholding in Lloyd’s broker Besso and a 48.63% stake in Spanish broker Summa.
It will retain a 2.76% stake in Hyperion.
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