Towergate is to undego a refinancing operation that could see the company’s ex-isting debts consolidated into a package worth over £1bn.
It will be the third time the company has refinanced since the merger of Towergate Underwriting and Folgate in November 2005, and follows comments made by group chief executive Andy Homer, last month that the company intended to refinance during the first quarter of this year.
In 2006, the company completed a refinancing deal worth £580m courtesy of principal backer, HBOS, and Lloyds TSB. The sum included a £250m war chest, around £100m of which remains following a string of acquisitions in 2007 that has seen the group’s annualised premium soar around the £2.5bn mark.
It is thought that the latest refinancing incorporates the additional £276m granted by HBOS for the acquisition of Open International in September, and the reported £150m sum the company paid for Paymentshield.
A Towergate spokesman confirmed the company would be refinancing but would not comment on the total figure.
He said: “We have always said? that the latest acquisition fund would see us through 2007 and a bit beyond.”
