Insurance team advises Probitas on its £242m sale to Aviva

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Probitas Holdings (Bermuda) Limited (Probitas) and its management team on the company’s announced £242m sale to Aviva plc (Aviva).

The deal, which will enable Aviva to re-enter the Lloyd’s market for the first time in more than 20 years, includes the acquisition of Probitas’ fully-integrated Lloyd’s platform and encompasses its Corporate Member, Managing Agent, international distribution entities and tenancy rights to Syndicate 1492.

The deal remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and is expected to close in mid-2024.

Probitas’ management team will continue to run the company post-acquisition and the Probitas brand will remain in use.

The Norton Rose Fulbright team advising on the deal was led by Partner Matthew Foster and the core team included Counsel Victoria Scopes, Senior Associates Oliver Kabongo and David Bartlett, and Associates Siobhain Corr and Rosemary Finn. Partners Dominic Stuttaford and Matt Findley, and Associate Ed Spilman, provided advice on tax and employee incentive arrangements.

Partner Matthew Foster:

“We are delighted to have been able to assist our long-standing client Probitas on this momentous deal. We have advised Probitas since its establishment around a decade ago and have been privileged to be able to help support its impressive growth and expansion over this period.”

This transaction marks another success for the firm’s Lloyd’s start-up practice and further underscores the depth and quality of its Lloyd’s practice.

Other notable recent transactions have included the team’s advice to Dale Underwriting Partners on its strategic partnership deal with CVC last year and its work for Ascot, alongside Marsh, on the innovative Ukrainian grain insurance facility.

Norton Rose Fulbright’s global insurance team advises many of the world’s most well-known industry participants on their most significant corporate, regulatory and transactional matters, as well as on complex claims, class actions, disputes and investigations.

Operating from each of the world's key insurance markets and with lawyers drawn from across the firm’s practice areas, the global insurance team works with industry participants including agencies and brokerages, captives, private equity funds, property and casualty insurers, professional malpractice insurers, reinsurers, surplus lines companies and self-funded alternative risk organizations.