The vendor’s general counsel says the team was “responsive, dynamic and technically excellent”
MinterEllisonRuddWatts dealmakers played a key role in the divestment of a South African insurer’s New Zealand portfolio.
The leading firm counselled Youi, which has agreed to sell its insurance portfolio in the country to Tower Insurance for $13m. Under the signed portfolio transfer agreement, Tower will acquire around 34,000 policies from Youi NZ.
Youi policyholders will remain covered by their existing policies until expiration, when they would be offered Tower policies. The deal increases Tower’s gross written premiums by 8%.
Silvana Schenone, partner and corporate division leader, headed the MinterEllisonRuddWatts deal team.
“Throughout the negotiation process, we supported our client to reach an agreement that meets its business objectives while also taking into account the interests of a number of different stakeholders and applicable regulatory requirements. We remained focused on the critical aspects of the deal, while applying a commercial and pragmatic lens,” she said.
The deal team included partners Richard Wells, Jeremy Muir, and Gillian Service. Also part of the team were senior associates Igor Drinkovic and Elena Kim.
“The team at MinterEllisonRuddWatts was excellent to deal with: they listened to what was important to us and helped us achieving our business objectives. They were responsive, dynamic and technically excellent,” said Russell Redsell, Youi group general counsel.
MinterEllisonRuddWatts said that the deal is subject to approvals from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and is expected to close later this year.
