High flying insurance duo plan £150m SPAC IPO on London Stock Exchange
Insurance industry veterans Will Allen and Andy Rear are planning to raise £150m through the launch of a new special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in the coming days.
The prominent duo plan to list a shell company called FINSAC on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) with a view merging with a leading name insurance technology firm, Sky news said.
The blank cheque company has already lined up a roster of City veterans – including insurance veteran Paul Jardine and fund manager David Morant – as non-executive directors in the new firm.
Dominic Christian, Aon’s global chairman for reinsurance solutions, is also involved in the new venture.
The launch will see the duo brave choppy equity markets after FINSAC last October secured cornerstone commitments from major fund managers, including London’s Toscafund and Qatar Insurance Company (QIC).
US fund Empyrean Capital has also signed up to invest in FINSAC’s upcoming IPO.
Insiders said the high caliber of cornerstone investors will breed confidence in the venture among other major investors, when the listing is formally announced.
The IPO is set to come amid a wave of SPAC listings on the LSE, after recent rule changes made it easier for such vehicles to float in the UK.