Sabre bought by private equity firm

Motor specialist Sabre Insurance has been snapped up by private equity group BC Partners for an undisclosed sum, according to Sky News.

BC Partners, the private equity firm behind estate agency chain Foxton’s, has bought a controlling stake in the Surrey-based group, which owns brands including Insurer 2 Drive and Go Girl, a policy for female drivers.

Sabre, which was founded in 1982 and was once part of insurance giant General Accident, specialises in non-standard insurance products such as non-comprehensive cover and policies for newly-qualified motorists.

The price paid by BC Partners has not been disclosed but one banker said it was likely to have valued Sabre in the “low hundreds of millions” pounds. Sabre’s senior management have also reinvested part of their windfall in the company, people close to the transaction have said.

Sabre, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Binomial Group, has seen policy numbers soar from 85,000 in 2005 to more than 200,000 in 2012, with pre-tax profit of more than £39m in 2012, company accounts show.

In notes attached to its 2012 accounts, Sabre said market conditions had “deteriorated particularly in the second half of 2012, the cause of which may have been competitors’ 2011 results being much better than the previous year”.

The group also pointed to a number of uncertainties in the motor insurance market in 2013, including changes to European Union legislation covering the sector.

The acquisition, which comes as BC Partners prepares to launch a flotation of Foxton’s, is the latest in a series of deals across the car insurance sector following the flotation of Direct Line Group and the listing of Esure.

BC declined to comment.