Jun092017
AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. Enters Agreements to Sell Shares in National General Holdings Corp.
AmTrust Financial Services, Inc. (Nasdaq:AFSI) (the "Company" or "AmTrust") announced today that it has entered into agreements to sell 10,586,000 shares it owns in National General Holdings Corp. (Nasdaq:NGHC) ("NGHC" or "National General") for approximately $211.7 million.
AmTrust has agreed to sell 10,586,000 common shares of NGHC at a price of $20.00 per share (representing a discount of 8.3% to NGHC's common stock closing market price on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange on June 8, 2017) through separate, privately negotiated purchase agreements with unaffiliated third parties.
The carrying value of the shares being sold was approximately $135 million as of March 31, 2017. The pre-tax gain on the sale of the shares will be approximately $76 million (pending AmTrust's proportional share of NGHC's earnings through the date of the sale). AmTrust will invest the funds from the sale in accordance with both the Company's overall corporate investment guidelines as well as individual subsidiary's investment guidelines.
AmTrust has held an ownership interest in NGHC since 2010. The Company's total invested capital in its equity investment in NGHC is approximately $53 million and its adjusted cost base is approximately $38 million as of March 31, 2017.
"We are taking the initiative to sell National General shares in order to simplify our balance sheet and investment portfolio composition. Our investment in National General has delivered meaningful returns, as National General's business has grown over the past several years," said Adam Karkowsky, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, AmTrust. "We appreciate the opportunity that our former Chairman Michael Karfunkel provided us to participate as a co-investor in NGHC's equity."
NGHC is a publicly-held specialty personal lines insurance holding company that operates twenty-two insurance companies in the United States and provides a variety of insurance products, including personal and commercial automobile, homeowners and umbrella, and supplemental health.