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– It’s sad that we end up here. In the current situation, it was unfortunately a choice between only bad alternatives, says Espen Husstad, CEO of Insr Insurance Group for the last five years.
Shareholders of the non-life insurance company Insr were called to an extraordinary general meeting on Monday to take a position on the board’s proposal to sell the company’s entire portfolio to Storebrand. Insr’s board has been chaired for the past six years by Åge Korsvold, better known as the former CEO of Storebrand and Orkla.
With a large majority, more than 73 percent, shareholders voted to sell the customer base, that is, the entire business, to Storebrand. The demand was supported by two-thirds. 62 percent of the shareholders had come forward, either physically at Vika Atrium in Oslo or digitally. Thus, among other things, Christen Sveaa’s investment company Kistefos, which controls 8.9 percent of Insr’s shares, was rejected. At Finansavisen last year, Kistefos announced a fight against the board’s recommendation.
– I think that none of those present thought that there were good solutions. You could choose between bad options. It was characterized by atmosphere, says Husstad.
The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority: Serious shortcomings
The background to the sale is that Finanstilsynet announced in June the withdrawal of Insr’s license to carry out non-life insurance. Finanstilsynet has long been critical of Insr’s operations, concluding in June that there are “persistent and serious deficiencies in the management and control of operations.” In February, the company’s auditor, PwC, rarely received strong criticism from Finanstilsynet for serious violations of the Auditors Act and good accounting practices for its audit at Insr.
As a result of the Finanstilsynet notice, Insr’s management and board believed that it had no choice but to sell the entire portfolio. The plan was supported by Finanstilsynet and the largest shareholder, Swedish investment company Investment ab Öresund, controlled by Mats Qviberg and Sven Hagströmer, with 25 percent of the shares.
– Now moving towards a controlled liquidation with a gradual transfer of the portfolio at the end of next year. Customers come to safety in Storebrand and we haven’t noticed anything special in customer reactions, says Husstad.
It adds that Insr’s management and board still disagree with Finanstilsynet’s conclusion.
– We continue to strongly disagree with the audit assessment, both because we have been solvent and because we do not experience criticism for how clients have been treated.
The voices spoke incorrectly
At the general meeting, a proposal for an investigation into the management of the company by former CEO Ivar Williksen as a shareholder was also presented through Vikna Eiendom. This proposal was rejected by the shareholders, it was announced for the first time by the company.
Then a new message came from the company stating that there was an error in the vote count.
– The error is too small to have consequences for the approval of the transaction, but it would have changed the outcome of the investigation. The company is considering how to handle it, the report says.
– It’s absolutely amazing that it works. We’ll see what the result will be now, Williksen tells DN.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases via a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content may only be done with written permission or as permitted by law. For more terms, see here.
