ClearView\u00a0Wealth has agreed to be\u00a0acquired\u00a0by Zurich Financial Services.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
On 24 February, the two firms announced they had entered into a scheme implementation deed (SID) for Zurich to acquire 100 per cent of ClearView. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Under the terms of the SID,\u00a0ClearView\u00a0shareholders will receive scheme consideration of 65 cents per\u00a0ClearView\u00a0share less any dividend paid prior to implementation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This\u00a0represents\u00a0a 21.5 per cent premium to the last closing share price on 23 February.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The board of\u00a0ClearView\u00a0\u201cunanimously recommend that\u00a0ClearView\u00a0shareholders vote in favour of the\u00a0scheme at the\u00a0scheme\u00a0meeting, in the absence of a\u00a0superior\u00a0proposal and subject to the\u00a0independent\u00a0expert concluding in the\u00a0independent\u00a0expert\u2019s\u00a0report (and continuing to conclude) that the\u00a0scheme is in the best interests of\u00a0ClearView\u00a0shareholders.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The firm\u2019s largest shareholder group \u2013 private equity firm Crescent Capital Partners \u2013 which holds 53 per cent of shares also intends to vote in favour of the scheme. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Shares in\u00a0ClearView\u00a0have risen 40 per cent over the past year compared to gains of 8.8 per cent by the ASX 200 over the same period.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
ClearView\u2019s\u00a0chair, Geoff Black, said: \u201cWe believe Zurich and\u00a0ClearView\u00a0are highly complementary brands in life insurance and\u00a0that, if the Scheme is implemented, Zurich will be a great custodian to continue delivering\u00a0ClearView\u2019s\u00a0ClearChoice\u00a0product that\u00a0protects what is most important to Australians.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we remain confident in the long-term outlook for the business and\u00a0ClearView\u2019s\u00a0opportunity to continue its success, the\u00a0Scheme enables\u00a0ClearView\u00a0shareholders to realise full liquidity and certain value for their\u00a0ClearView\u00a0shares.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A scheme meeting for shareholders to vote on the deal is due to be held in mid-August, the firm said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, ClearView announced the resignation of board director Gary Burg after 14 years, effective immediately, leaving the board with seven directors, four of whom are independent. Burg had joined the board in 2012 following its 80 per cent acquisition by Crescent Capital.<\/p>\n
In an ASX statement, ClearView chairman Geoff Black said, \u201cThe board wishes to express its sincere thanks to Gary for his contribution and assistance to the board over the past 14 years. Gary\u2019s experience and investment knowledge have proved extremely valuable to the company, and we wish him well in his future endeavours.\u201d<\/p>\n
ClearView previously exited wealth management in FY25 following a strategic review which found a lack of scale and limited growth options and is now focusing on life insurance. It had already exited the financial advice space in 2023 with the sale of a 24.4 per cent stake in Centrepoint Alliance. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Zurich announced it had agreed to sell its investment management division to\u00a0Russell Investments as it decided to focus on its operations in the Australian insurance market.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Justin Delaney, CEO of Zurich Australia & New Zealand, said: \u201cThe decision to divest ZIM reflects where Zurich is heading as an organisation, allowing us to continue to focus on our core operations in the Australian insurance market. Russell Investments brings global scale, deep investment\u00a0capabilities\u00a0and a strong local presence, making it an ideal partner for our advisers, investors, and employees.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ClearView\u00a0Wealth has agreed to be\u00a0acquired\u00a0by Zurich Financial Services.\u00a0\u00a0 On 24 February, the two firms announced they had entered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6],"tags":[3264,11692,2541,51],"class_list":["post-17771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-zurich","tag-acquisition","tag-clearview","tag-ma","tag-zurich"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}