MMA still favourites to buy motor insurer Provident

MMA remains locked in takeover talks with advisers of Halifax-based Provident Insurance despite a three-month period of exclusivity recently expiring.

The French insurer is still thrashing out the deal – worth around £70m - with Goldman Sachs, the corporate advisers of Provident’s US parents GMAC.

However, Insurance Times understands that the two parties have not agreed an extension to the exclusivity period, meaning a deal could be imminent.

Discussions have been ongoing since October when Insurance Times revealed that MMA was in pole position to snap up motor insurer Provident.

MMA is likely to position Provident within its UK holding company, MMA Holdings (UK), which also includes MMA Insurance, high-street broker Swinton and Gibraltar-based motor insurer Gateway Insurance.

MMA has seen off competition from other interested parties including a consortium of private investors fronted by former IAG UK chief executive Neil Utley and Gibraltar-based insurer Markerstudy .

MMA and Provident both declined to comment.