Aug 21 (Reuters) – Australian insurance broker Steadfast Group said on Friday it has agreed to a A$7.7 billion ($5.51 billion) takeover offer by a U.S. consortium backed by investment firm KKR.
As part of the proposal, insurance distributor Amwins Group will acquire Steadfast’s underwriting agency operations, while U.S.-based Dragoneer Investment will take over its broking business.
Steadfast shareholders, as previously announced, will receive A$6 apiece, representing a 51.9% premium since the stock’s closing on June 9 — the last trading day before the company disclosed it had received a non-binding proposal from Dragoneer and Amwins.
The Sydney-based company’s board has unanimously recommended that shareholders vote in favour of the scheme, in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to an independent expert concluding the deal is in shareholders’ best interests.
Steadfast is currently targeting to implement the scheme in December, it said in an exchange filing after market hours.
($1 = 1.3968 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair and Shilpi Majumdar)
