Fairfax Financial buys Brit Insurance for $300-million

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. is buying Brit Insurance Ltd. of London from Brit Group for about $300-million (U.S.).

Toronto-based Fairfax said Monday that the acquisition by its RiverStone subsidiary will be funded by internal resources at RiverStone.

As of March 31, BIL had net reserves of $1.3-billion and cash and invested assets of $1.9-billion.

Fairfax put BIL's book value at about $530-million.

The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2012. Brit wrote U.K. domestic, as well as some international, insurance and reinsurance before it stopped writing new policies this year.

"We think that this is an excellent acquisition by Nick Bentley and his experienced team at RiverStone," said Fairfax chairman and CEO Prem Watsa.

Fairfax is a financial services holding company which, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in property and casualty insurance.

Fairfax Financial (FFH)

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