Scottish Lion, whose solvent scheme was the subject of an appeal to the Scottish court earlier this year, has been sold by its owners Audley Gilroy Insurance Capital Management to Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary National Indemnity. A date for the second sanction hearing for the scheme has yet to be fixed. The acquisition of Scottish Lion by Berkshire must raise a question mark over the scheme as Berkshire generally favours a long term rather than accelerated run-off strategy.
Dan Schwarzmann, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and adviser to Scottish Lion, told Run Off & Restructuring: ‘We were delighted to work closely with Audley Gilroy on a solvent scheme for Scottish Lion, and on the recent successful Scottish Lion appeal which was a groundbreaking result for all companies looking to promote solvent schemes.’
He says the continued commitment of Audley Gilroy to solvent schemes is demonstrated both by that appeal and in Caspar Gilroy’s co-ownership of Minster Insurance: ‘The Minster scheme, which we also advised on and that achieved court sanction last month, is one of the largest single company solvent schemes to be brought to market involving both direct and cedant creditors.
‘We remain focused on creating value for our clients through advising on a variety of exit mechanisms, and as Mr Gilroy has confirmed, Audley Gilroy are very pleased with the overall outcome,' adds Schwarzmann.