Sandridge Limited, the company owned and chaired by Bernie Weatherhead, has signed the purchase agreement with CLICO Holdings (Barbados) to acquire CLICO International General Insurance Limited.
Having carried out extensive due diligence, representatives of Weatherhead’s group were formally introduced to staff members of the insurance company last Friday, and will now be immersed in its management. It was also announced that subject to regulatory approval, the name of the company would be changed to Sun General Insurance Inc.
Weatherhead told the SUNDAY SUN he was “pleased to have concluded the agreement as we have absolute confidence in the present management and staff of the general insurance company”.
He said that “individual and commercial clients who have maintained their insurance are fully covered, as the company is quite capable of settling claims in any eventuality”.
The chairman pointed out that the track record of Clico General Insurance for settling claims in the past had been exceptional and “the company continues to enjoy the full support of major local insurance brokers, its valued reinsurers and longstanding reinsurance broker Willis Re, the second largest reinsurance broker in the world”.
“This augurs well for both individual and commercial clients,” Weatherhead said in a Press statement issued on Friday.
CLICO Holdings president Terrence Thornhill said he was delighted at the signing of the share purchase agreement with the Sandridge Group.
He added this was part of CLICO Holdings’ strategy to rebuild policyholder confidence and employee comfort in institutions that were nurtured over the years, but which had been severely affected because of the challenges facing the Clico group.
“We are confident that as we execute on this strategy that confidence will be restored in other entities within our group,” Thornhill said.
Weatherhead was also confident that with new direction and innovation the new company would quickly be transformed and positioned as a major player in Caribbean general insurance.
“The focus moving forward will be to retain our current customers, regain lost business and aggressively go after new clients across the region,” he added.
CLICO General Insurance operates in Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Maarten, and St Vincent and the Grenadines. It provides property, home, motor, marine, travel and personal accident cover under the personal range of insurance products, as well as money, fidelity, employers and public liability, machinery, engineering, construction, contracts, glass and goods-in-transit cover under the business lines.
The Weatherhead group of companies operate businesses in ten islands across the Caribbean. Operations include car hire, travel agencies, hotels, themed island tours, coach and taxi transport, service stations, wedding coordinators and ground-handling services.
