Speculation is rising that Royal and SunAlliance (R&SA) is facing a takeover after 191 million shares were traded in the past 24 hours.
Fidelity International Ltd, which has been selling its interests in Cox Insurance over the past two days, has offloaded 155 million shares today into the market. On Tuesday, 36 million shares were traded and analysts have been speculating that the company is up for sale.
A number of possible suitors have been mentioned. US giants AIG and Aegon have been mooted while ING Barings has been cited as a possible stalking horse.
Market sources have also pointed to Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) buying the insurer to bolt-on to NIG, making it one of the largest commercial broker-only insurers in the UK.
It is understood R&SA's investor relations director Pat Regan was recently in the US discussing options for the group.
R&SA declined to comment on the speculation. R&SA shareprice closed at 79.5p after rising from 76p earlier in the day.
