Fosun reveals Ironshore results prior sale to Liberty Mutual for $3bn

Chinese conglomerate Fosun said that its Bermuda-based specialty property/casualty insurer Ironshore made a net profit of $115.7 million in 2016 while producing an underwriting loss with a combined ratio of 102.1 percent.

Premium income was $2.20 billion in 2016. Ironshore achieved a total investment return of 3.2 percent during the period.

Fosun agreed to sell Ironshore to US-based insurer Liberty Mutual in December 2016, only around a year after it acquired the remaining 80 percent stake in Ironshore. The purchase price paid for the acquisition of 100 percent equity interest in Ironshore was approximately $2.52 billion.

Since it acquired Ironshore, Fosun has grappled with the way in which rating agency AM Best has viewed the deal, specifically the high level of debt leverage it ended up with.

The agreed sale price to Liberty Mutual for Ironshore is set at approximately $3 billion in cash. The completion of the transaction is expected to take place in the first half of 2017.

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