Admiral Group PLC (LON:ADM) shares ticked higher on Christmas Eve after the insurer announced that it has mutually agreed to terminate a proposed joint venture agreement involving its Spanish business, Rastreator Comparador Correduría de Seguros S.L.
In a brief statement, the FTSE 100-listed the firm said the decision was due to “challenges in completing the transaction within a reasonable timeframe, predominantly relating to antitrust complexity.”
In May, private equity firm Oakley Capital Investments Ltd (LON:OCI) said it had agreed to form a joint venture with Admiral and MAPFRE SA to strengthen its insurance proposition in Spain.
The partners had planned to acquire and merge Admiral's Rastreator with Asesor Seguros Online SL and Asesor Consumer Services SL, two of Spain's digital brokers for insurance and other financial products, owned by MAPFRE.
Under the terms, Admiral and MAPFRE would have collectively retained majority ownership of the joint venture company while Oakley Capital Investments would have held a minority stake alongside management.
In its own statement announcing the termination, Oakley Capital said: “The two deals were signed conditional upon achieving competition clearance. Due to challenges in completing the transaction within a reasonable timeframe, predominantly relating to antitrust complexity, Fund III and its JV partners have decided not to proceed and therefore neither transaction will now complete.”
In morning trading, Oakley Capital shares gained 0.2% at 264p, while Admiral shares rose 0.3% to 2,305p.