Private Equity Firm Sees Opportunities in Insurance

Private Equity Firm Sees Opportunities in Insurance

Private Equity Firm Sees Opportunities in Insurance >

By Megan Davies and Paritosh Bansal <>

Private equity firm Lightyear Capital is looking for acquisitions in sectors including insurance, banks, processing companies and asset management, CEO Donald Marron said Monday. >

Lightyear has stayed on the sidelines for the last year, although it recently struck a deal to buy three of the U.S. independent broker-dealer units of Dutch bancassurer ING Group. >

"Coming out of this crisis there are a lot of opportunities, but you have to look very carefully,'' Marron told the Reuters Global Finance Summit in New York. >

Marron, who founded Lightyear in 2000, said a typical deal Lightyear might pursue would be $50 million to $250 million in terms of the equity cheque written. Of that, Lightyear would contribute about half the equity.He said there are multiple opportunities for investing in insurance. >

Last year Lightyear was in talks with mortgage insurer Triad Guaranty to form a new mortgage insurer, but those discussions ended in the summer of 2008. >

"We've looked very hard at mortgage insurance and we've not done anything yet; it's a very complex issue and we will continue to look,'' Marron said. >

(Reporting by Megan Davies and Paritosh Bansal; editing by John Wallace) >
See original post: http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2009/11/19/105443.htm

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http://dreamlearndobecome.blogspot.com This posting was made my Jim Jacobs, President & CEO of Jacobs Executive Advisors. Jim also serves as Leader of Jacobs Advisors' Insurance Practice.