Utmost wins raft of regulatory approvals to complete Quilter Int'l deal within weeks

Utmost Group is to complete the acquisition of Quilter International at the end of this month, on 30 November 2021, after receiving all the necessary regulatory approvals.

In the update statement on Friday 12 November, Utmost said the deal will add around £23bn of assets under administration and 90,000 policyholders to the Group, taking total assets under administration to £61bn and total policyholders to 580,000.

The total consideration payable to Quilter plc will be £481m reflecting interest at 5% pa on the base consideration of £460m from 31 December 2020 to the date of completion.

Utmost had announced on 1 April this year it would acquire Quilter International from Quilter plc.

Approvals or non-objections have been received from the European Commission, the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority, the Central Bank of Ireland, the Dubai Financial Services Authority, the Insurance Authority of Hong Kong and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Utmost said in the statement that it was "pleased "to have received all the approvals so that "the Transaction will therefore complete on 30 November 2021".

It completed a £400m issue of 4% 10.25-year Tier 2 loan notes on 15 September 2021.

£300m of the proceeds of the loan note issuance were used to repurchase £300m of internal Tier 2 loan notes held by Utmost Holdings (Guernsey) Limited ("UHGL", Utmost Group's immediate shareholder).

UHGL in turn used £110m of the repurchase consideration to repay £110m of bank debt leaving it with only £125m of bank debt with effect from 22 September 2021.

Utmost Group will fund the consideration and associated transaction costs through a combination of approximately £200m of current excess capital within the business and additional equity subscription by UHGL of approximately £300m.