Cowdery tables first-round bid for 630 Lloyds branches
ENTREPRENEUR Clive Cowdery, founder of insurance consolidator Resolution, has lodged a first-round bid for 630 Lloyds Banking Group branches being sold to appease competition regulators, it is understood.
He is pursuing the branches through a Guernsey-based company which advises London-listed Resolution on acquisitions, rather than through Resolution. Resolution declined to comment.
Cowdery, who has a strong following among institutional investors after his first project made millions buying and merging closed life funds in the UK, has focused mainly on the insurance industry.
However, he has said there are consolidation opportunities across a broad range of financial services sectors. Resolution was among the bidders for British mortgage bank Bradford & Bingley in 2008, prior to its collapse.
A handful of companies, including Virgin Money and NBNK, the bank buyout vehicle led by Lord Levene, had made indicative bids by last week’s deadline, according to sources involved in the process. National Australia Bank has not tabled a bid but is assessing the situation.