Fairfax to sell nearly 30% of Brit

Fairfax Financial is to sell almost a third of its shares in insurer Brit to a Canadian pension fund.

Financial services company Fairfax, which bought Brit for £1.22 billion earlier this year, will sell a 29.9 percent stake in the insurer to Canadian pension fund Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers).

Fairfax has entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding to sell the stake to Omers for a price of $4.30 per share, a rate which is equivalent to the cash amount under the offer based on the exchange rate on February 17, 2015.

The acquisition of Brit by Fairfax was approved by its two largest shareholders, private equity firms Apollo Global Management and CVC Capital, in March.