US giant pays £4.3bn for JLT
INSURANCE broker and employee benefits consultant Jardine Lloyd Thompson is being bought for £4.3billion by American giant Marsh & McLennan as it aims to expand its global presence.
Shares in FTSE 250 firm JLT jumped by 440p to 1872p after it agreed a cash offer valuing its shares at £19.15 each, a premium of 33.7 per cent over Monday’s closing price.
Marsh, which has annual revenue of over $14billion (£10.7billion), said JLT had “strong organic growth and attractive geographic diversification”.
Its swoop will strengthen its positions in markets such as Asia and Latin America and in areas such as pensions and benefits.
But the combination puts thousands of jobs at risk.
Marsh is looking to achieve savings of about $250million within three years, a “substantial portion” of which could come from staff reductions as well as in property and IT. It expects staff numbers to fall by between 2 per cent and 5 per cent across all markets, including the UK, Europe, Asia, the Americas, Middle East and the Pacific.
Areas affected include finance, human resources, IT, legal and administrative support staff.
JLT operates in more than 40 territories with more than 10,000 staff, while MMC’s 65,000 employees serve clients in more than 130 countries.
JLT chief Dominic Burke, who will join Marsh as vice chairman, said: “I am enormously proud of what JLT has achieved, founded on our people, our culture and unwavering commitment to our clients.
“Marsh is, and always has been, a highly respected competitor and I believe that, combined, we will create a group that will truly stand as a beacon for our industry.” THE groceries market grew by 3.8 per cent over the 12 weeks to September 9 as shoppers spent nearly half a billion pounds more keeping cool during the heatwave.
Figures from Kantar Worldpanel showed an extra £228million was spent on alcohol, £178million more on soft drinks and £74million more on ice-cream.
The Co-op benefited from consumers shopping locally to record its fastest sales growth since 2011, up 8.5 per cent. Aldi was the fastest-growing chain, lifting sales by 13.9 per cent, while German rival Lidl, was up 8.3 per cent. They have nearly doubled their combined share over the past five years to 13.1 per cent. Industry leader Tesco has 27.4 per cent.
Asda continued its recovery with 3.1 per cent higher sales as it attracted 211,000 more shoppers.
Inflation hit 2 per cent, adding £1.64 a week to a family’s bill.