INVESCO GAINS SUPPORT IN OMEGA BATTLE, REPORT CLAIMS

Jupiter Asset Management, Aviva, Threadneedle Asset Management and J O Hambro are backing Invesco Asset Management in its ongoing battle with Bermuda-domiciled Omega Insurance Holdings, reports the UK Daily Telegraph. Talks between Omega and Invesco, which owns 29% of Omega, broke down late last month. Invesco wants to replace chairman Walter Fiederowicz as chairman with John Coldman, formerly chairman of Benfield, and to replace Christopher Clarke with James Bryce. It has also proposed the appointment of four additional directors. The report also claimed that John Robinson, who co-founded Syndicate 958 in 1979, had put his 7.2% holding behind Invesco. Mr Robinson unexpectedly left his posts of director and Chief Underwriting Officer at Omega in October 2009, having been replaced by Daria Vanous as Active Underwriter in September. If the report his correct, his decision to back Invesco against the current leadership would add to speculation that the external campaign reflects an ongoing internal dispute. Last July Omega decided to reduce the level of pre-emption that it would be offering to Members for the 2010 year of account (IIN 24, July 28 2009), from about 20% to about 12%, while in August it reported flat numbers that masked a 10.4% drop in the claims ratio but a 9.2 point rise in the underwriting expense ratio. The interim dividend of 6¢ a share equalled 70% of income.