Sale follows last year’s purchase of fellow Lloyd’s insurer Omega

Michael Watson, Canopius

Lloyd’s insurer Canopius has agree to sell its shares in subsidiary Canopius Bermuda to a number of institutional investors for $216.7m (£145.1m).

Under the deal, which is a private placement, Canopius will sell just over 14 million shares for $15.45 a share.

Canopius had previously announced it was selling its Bermuda operation as part of last year’s acquisition of fellow Lloyd’s insurer Omega.

Both Canopius and Omega have Bermuda operations, and so there was duplication following the combination of the two firms.

Canopius opted to keep Omega’s Bermuda operations and sell its own because it was more familiar with its own operations and could conduct a sale more effectively.

As a result, Canopius agreed to merge its existing Bermuda operations with US insurance firm Tower Group and sell its stake.

Tower Group took an 11% stake in Canopius as part of the Omega purchase. Private equity firm Bregal Capital owns 84% of Canopius and management 5%.