UK: Hastings acquired by Australian firm
The UK’s fifth largest car insurance broker Hastings Insurance Services was today snapped up by an Australian firm in a deal worth £140m (€206m).
The agreement marks the first move into Europe by Australia’s second largest general insurer, Insurance Australia Group (IAG). Hastings’ sister company Advantage Insurance is also being sold as part of the deal.
Hastings – a private company – trades under Hastings Direct and Peoples Choice, which operate without branches over the telephone and internet.
In a statement, IAG said: “This acquisition gives us the perfect entry point to the UK market.”
IAG said it had chosen the UK as it had the largest insurance industry in Europe and the third largest in the world.
It said in nine of the past 11 years the UK motor insurance market had lost money but a number of firms have been profitable during that period. Hastings and Advantage have been profitable since inception, it added.
