Sale of HIM
Hiscox Ltd
06 December 2007
BUYOUT OF THIRD PARTY FUND MANAGEMENT BUSINESS FROM HISCOX
Hamilton, Bermuda - Hiscox Ltd ('Hiscox') the specialist insurer announces today
that it has agreed to sell its third party fund management arm, Hiscox
Investment Management Limited, to the principals, creating an independent
investment management company. Hiscox will have a 40% shareholding in the
company, with management holding the remainder. The buyout is due to complete on
31st December 2007. The gross assets of Hiscox Investment Management at the
closing of the transaction are expected to be approximately £2 million. On
completion Hiscox Investment Management Limited will change its name to HIM
Capital Limited ('HIM Capital').
HIM Capital will continue to specialise in the financial sector, initially
offering three funds: the Hiscox Insurance Portfolio Fund focusing on Global
insurance, the Hiscox Far Eastern Financial Fund investing in Asian financials
ex-Japan, and the Hiscox European Financial Fund focusing on European financials
with a specific emphasis on emerging Europe. HIM Capital will launch with
approximately £125 million under management.
HIM Capital will be led by Alec Foster as chairman, Mark Stacpoole as managing
director and John Yakas and Nick Martin as fund managers. (Biographies and
details of the three funds are attached in the editors' notes).
Commenting on the transaction, Bronek Masojada, chief executive of Hiscox, said:
'In recent years the team at Hiscox Investment Management have established
themselves as a leading specialist fund manager in financials. Independent of
Hiscox, the management team will be well positioned to develop this area and
grow the business organically and through partnerships.'
Alec Foster, chairman of HIM Capital, said: 'The management buyout of Hiscox's
third party fund management business represents an exciting new chapter for my
team and for our fund investors. We will continue to focus our energies on
providing specialist investment management in financials. Although financials
have been under significant and indiscriminate pressure over the past months
this has highlighted the opportunities now available for working with
specialists. Financials form an integral part of the global economy and we look
forward to using our expertise in this area for the benefit of our fund
investors in the years ahead.'
The launch of HIM Capital will capitalise on the management team's experience of
investing in financials while allowing the company additional opportunities to
develop and grow. The team has a strong belief in the value of specialist fund
management in the financials sector. The company's investment process focuses on
bottom-up stock picking, using research generated internally. The investment
strategy has a strong quality bias and the managers prefer a buy and hold
approach to portfolio management. HIM Capital's target investors are the
institutional and high net worth sectors.
For Hiscox, the specialist mutual funds business has been a valuable, albeit
non-core, part of the group. Hiscox will continue to be an investor in the funds
and with its significant stake in the business will have a representative on the
board. Hiscox will retain oversight of the investment of its own assets.
Ends
All media enquiries:
Mainland
Phoebe Davison/Neil Mainland
0203 008 7400
07771 981672/07753 787290
Hiscox Investment Management
Alec Foster/Mark Stacpoole
0207 448 6000
Hiscox Ltd
Kylie O'Connor/Robin Mehta
Group Communications/Company Secretary
0207 448 6656/+1 441278 8300
Editors' Notes:
About Hiscox Investment Management
Hiscox Investment Management is an investment management subsidiary of Hiscox
Ltd. It is responsible for supervising the investment of the Hiscox Group's
funds. It is also a specialist fund manager with an established track record and
expertise of managing portfolios in the financial sector, principally in banking
and insurance. The company has been managing specialist financials funds since
1993 and currently has funds under management of approximately £125 million. The
buyout will complete on the 31st December 2007 and has been approved by the FSA.
Following the completion of the transaction, the company will be renamed HIM
Capital Limited.
The HIM Capital Funds
The Hiscox Insurance Portfolio Fund (Manager: Alec Foster) was launched in 1998
and has returned +82.7% versus +32.1%* for the Datastream World Insurance Index
(£). The fund is the only European vehicle for investing in insurance industry
companies worldwide. The £51 million fund offers a diversified exposure to
leading property/casualty and life insurers, brokers and related insurance
businesses worldwide, placing a specific emphasis on mid-cap insider-owned
companies. The fund is managed as a portfolio of insurance 'risks', placing
particular emphasis on underwriting and the ability of managers to make superior
returns across cycles. Alec Foster has worked in the industry for 40 years and
has an excellent network of contacts particularly in the US and the UK.
The Hiscox Far Eastern Financial Fund (Manager: John Yakas) was launched in 1996
and has returned +150.0% versus +59.9%* for the Datastream Asia ex-Japan
Financials Index. The $65 million fund is the only European investment vehicle
dedicated to investment in financial companies in the Far East excluding Japan.
Asian financials offer a warrant on the growth of the world's most exciting
economies yet are less exposed to some of the speculative excesses of more
developed markets. The fund will benefit from the growing wealth of the Asian
consumer and the huge infrastructure expenditure across the region. The
increasing demand for both borrowing and saving products of banks, insurers and
asset managers will offer exciting investment opportunities as the markets
mature from export-led economies to domestic powerhouses in their own right.
The Hiscox European Financial Fund (Manager: John Yakas) was launched in 1993
and has returned +373.8% versus +276.7%* for the Datastream European Financials
Index. The €20 million fund has a long track record of benefiting from the
significant changes to the European financial landscape over the past 15 years.
An initial beneficiary of the moves towards a single market and thereafter the
introduction of a single currency, the fund has most recently been positioned to
benefit from the expansion of Europe into the new countries of Central and
Eastern Europe. The fund has built up increasing holdings in the growth markets
of emerging Europe with some 50% of the fund in the region either through direct
investment or through companies with subsidiaries in the region. HIM Capital is
in the process of seeking approvals to merge the Hiscox Global Financials Fund
into the Hiscox European Financial Fund. This process is anticipated to be
completed early in the New Year.
* Performance data as at 30th November 2007
The HIM Capital Team
Alec Foster will be chairman of HIM Capital. He will continue to manage the
Hiscox Insurance Portfolio Fund in conjunction with Nick Martin. Alec has worked
in the insurance business for 40 years, first as an insurance broker in the
London market and for the past 31 years at Hiscox. Prior to the buyout he was
managing director of Hiscox Investment Management and had been group investment
officer until 2005. He launched the Hiscox Insurance Portfolio Fund in 1998. He
was chairman of Universal Salvage plc, the listed insurance related vehicle
service company prior to its acquisition by the US company Copart in 2007. He is
also a director of Midas Capital Partners, the Liverpool based fund manager and
Trustee Director of St Andrew's Healthcare.
Mark Stacpoole, former director of marketing at Hiscox Investment Management,
will become HIM Capital's managing director. Mark has spent 24 years in the
financial services industry and the past five years in the asset management
business. Mark started his career in capital markets at Morgan Grenfell in 1983
and in 1988 joined Kleinwort Benson where he was a director of corporate finance
for nine years. In 2000, he joined a start-up financial services group EO as a
managing director. In 2002, he joined Warnborough Asset Management, the private
equity group, as managing director responsible for fund raising. He joined
Hiscox in 2004 as director of marketing to increase the distribution of the
funds both in the UK and internationally.
John Yakas is the manager of the Hiscox Far Eastern and European Financials
Funds. John has worked in the financial services industry for the past 20 years
and has been with Hiscox for the past four years. He has been involved with the
Hiscox Far Eastern Financial Fund since its launch in 1996. He has also been
responsible for the migration of the Hiscox European Financial Fund to Central
and Eastern Europe over the past two years. He has held a number of positions
within the banking and financial research industry prior to becoming the Head of
Asian Research at Fox-Pitt, Kelton in 1995 and launching their office in Hong
Kong in 2000. He left Fox-Pitt, Kelton in 2003 and became a Director of Hiscox
Far Eastern Financial Fund and a consultant to Hiscox Investment Management.
Nick Martin is the co-manager of the Hiscox Insurance Portfolio Fund, working
closely with Alec Foster. He has worked in the financial services industry for
nine years and at Hiscox for the past six years. He provides company analysis as
well as being deeply involved in all the investment ideas for the Fund. He is a
qualified chartered accountant and obtained a first class honours degree, Bsc
Econometrics and Mathematical Economics at the London School of Economics. Nick
developed a broad knowledge of the insurance sector at the chartered
accountants, Mazars Neville Russell, where he specialised in audit and
consultancy work for insurance companies, insurance brokers and Lloyd's
syndicates.
The non-executive directors on the HIM Capital Board will be Adrian Collins and
Charles Dupplin. Adrian Collins has worked in the fund management business for
over 30 years, a large part of which was at Gartmore Investment Management
Limited where latterly he was managing director. Adrian is a director of a
number of asset management companies including Midas Capital Partners, Corvus
Capital and two investment trusts. Charles Dupplin is the appointed
representative of Hiscox, where he is the chairman of the Art and Private Client
division and director of mergers and acquisitions.
About Hiscox
Hiscox, headquartered in Bermuda, is a specialist insurance group listed on the
London Stock Exchange. There are three main underwriting parts of the Group -
Hiscox Global Markets, Hiscox UK and Europe, and Hiscox International. Hiscox
Global Markets underwrites mainly internationally traded business in the London
Market - generally large or complex business which needs to be shared with other
insurers or needs the international licences of Lloyd's. Hiscox UK and Hiscox
Europe offer a range of specialist insurance for professionals and business
customers, as well as high net worth individuals. Hiscox International includes
operations in Bermuda, Guernsey and the USA. Hiscox Insurance Company Ltd,
Hiscox Underwriting Ltd and Hiscox Syndicates Ltd are authorised and regulated
by the FSA.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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