SSP and Sirius have agreed to an acquisition deal valuing Sirius at approximately £43.4m.
In the UK, the business will have a presence in the areas of general insurance relating to regional brokers, call centres, small intermediaries, major brokers, underwriting agencies and insurance companies, as well as establish a presence in the systems sector relating to large financial advisers.
Following formal approval of the proposal, SSP will announce a new board structure. David Rasche will continue as executive chairman, with Stephen Verrall, currently Sirius' chairman and chief executive, becoming deputy chairman.
Laurence Walker, SSP's managing director, will become group chief executive, and Gren Folwell will continue as senior independent director. Nick Bate will continue as group finance director and Barney Quinn and Steve Broughton will continue in a non-executive capacity. Other Sirius executive directors except for Richard Bowser, Sirius' finance director, are expected to continue in a senior management capacity within the enlarged business.
Commenting on the proposals, David Rasche, executive chairman of SSP, said: “This is a tremendous opportunity to create a market leading international as well as UK business with over 600 of the most experienced IT professionals in the insurance market. As world insurance markets become more competitive, there is a shift towards an internet and electronic trading model. Our combined presence and knowledge of this market will provide significant expansion opportunities. The combination of the businesses will also strengthen our ‘consumer to carrier' proposition in the UK through additional products and market segments. This transaction should help improve efficiencies for insurance distribution and bring additional capabilities for our enlarged customer base, particularly in electronic trading and web enablement.
Stephen Verrall, chairman and group chief executive of Sirius, commented: “I am delighted that we have been able to reach agreement on combining Sirius with SSP to create an exciting and new enlarged group which is strongly placed to address the many opportunities in the international insurance software marketplace.
