Member Article

Maidstone's Towergate in £1 takeover bid

Maidstone-based insurance group Towergate has received a £1 takeover offer from its debtholders as they offer to write off £715 million of company debt.

The bid comes from creditors who hold 67 per cent of the business, advised by Moelis & Company.

The troubled insurance broker Towergate put itself up for sale in November after reporting a pre-tax loss of £112.7 million in the nine months to 30 September 2014.

A spokesman for the bondholders said: “We are pleased to submit a formal offer to acquire the Towergate Group which provides for a substantially deleveraged capital structure and a new money facility to put the Towergate Group on a stable, long-term footing.

“Our offer enables the Towergate Group to fully benefit from further growth opportunities while establishing the stability required to maintain the support of Towergate’s customers, suppliers and employees.

“We view Towergate’s employees as critical to Towergate’s future success and we look forward to working with them to strengthen Towergate’s position as a market-leading UK insurance provider.”

A Towergate spokesman added: “As previously announced, Towergate is actively engaging with creditor groups and other interested third parties as we consider the appropriate way forward for the group.

“Towergate has had sight of outline terms from the ad hoc senior secured committee since last week, and we have now received a detailed proposal from them, which we welcome alongside other proposals.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .