Tycoon’s £70m windfall from Hastings sale

INSURANCE tycoon Neil Utley is set to rake more than £70m as investors prepare to buy Hastings.

Finnish financial conglomerate Sampo and South African investment firm Rand Merchant Investment Holdings have launched a £1.7bn bid for the motor insurer, which has the board’s approval.

Former DJ Utley, who is worth £194m according to the Sunday Times Rich List, stands to bag £73.3m if he sells his 29.3m shares in Hastings for the offer price of 250p per share. The 58-year- old ( pictured) helped to revive Hastings in 2009, when he took a major stake through a management buyout and became its chairman.

He has already made millions, pocketing £135m after 50pc was sold to Goldman Sachs in 2013. He put the money to work, buying David and Victoria Beckham’s ‘Beckingham Palace’ mansion in 2014 for £11.5m. And when Hastings listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2015, Utley raked in another £2.8m.

Since then he has gradually sold down his shares.

Gary Hoffman, the chairman of the Premier League and digital bank Monzo, will land a payday of around £15m from the deal. He became chief executive in 2012 to see it through its stock market float, later becoming chairman, then stepping down this year.

His fellow shareholders – David Saville, Richard Brewster, Thomas Duggan and Ian Donald – who also backed the management buyout, stand to scoop millions.

For other investors, the opportunity to sell shares for 250p may come as a relief.

The shares were around 182p before the deal was announced – barely higher than the 170p they floated at in 2015. Hastings was founded in Bexhill- on-Sea, East Sussex, by David Gundlach and Andrew Bowen. In its half-year results yesterday, profits rose during the pandemic, as lockdown meant cars were parked on driveways leading to fewer accidents. It made a profit before tax of £63.5m in the first six months of 2020, compared to £46.1m over the same time last year. Sampo and Rand’s swoop on Hastings is the latest involving big-name private investors snapping up beleaguered British firms. This week, roadside breakdown firm the AA said three sets of US private equity firms were circling it. And Casual Dining Group, the owner of Bella Italia and Cafe Rouge, has been bought by private equity firm Epiris. One investment banker told the Mail that he was seeing a flurry of activity as foreign investors hunt post-lockdown bargains.