Reliance National Insurance Company Europe (RNICE) has been granted leave by the High Court to convene a meeting of its creditors in order to consider a solvent scheme of arrangement.
The scheme has been developed in conjunction with advisers KPMG and law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
On Tuesday, the court ordered RNICE to conduct a single meeting of one class of creditor, which will take place on 2 February 2006.
If approved by the requisite majorities of creditors voting at the meeting, RNICE will seek sanction of the scheme from the court in mid-February 2006.
RNICE was purchased by Omni Whittington Investments (Guernsey) in October 2003. Its portfolio consists predominantly of accident and health, marine and aviation, property, third party liability and inwards reinsurance business written in Europe between 1991 and 2001 when RNICE went into run-off.
Omni Whittington director, Richard Whatton, said: “The scheme we are proposing will considerably reduce the time it will take RNICE to settle the liabilities of the company compared to a standard run-off and give creditors 100 pence in the pound of all claims agreed within it.”
Omni Whittington is also seeking recognition of the scheme in the US from the US courts.
This was the fourth of six acquisitions of insurance companies in run-off made by Omni Whittington since 2000 as part of the group's commitment to providing exit solutions for entities in run-off.
