TWR - Tower Insurance.

[CJ]

did gpg sell their stake?

Looks like they sold 19.9% who NZFC are offloading to clients - at $1.70

Edit 1: I believe they held 33% so still 13% to go.

Edit 2: They have sold their full holding so not sure who the other 13% went to. https://www.nzx.com/companies/GPG/announcements/241759

[CJ]

A few were buying at $1.83 this morning as their was no announcement re TWR will 10.25 - GPG made theirs at 10.05.

Its been above $2 this year so that is a big discount and will take a while for that overhang to clear out.

In the end, it is postive. GPG has made TWR gut themselves over the past few years - if only they had sold earlier, then TWR wouldn't look so anorexic now.

[macduffy]

I see that Milford Asset Management have reduced their holding from 8.16% to 6.83%.

I must say I find it hard to believe that the "slimmed-down" version will have the necessary scale to make a success of being a general - only insurance business, up against the majors.

[bull....]

I think they will be a takeover target in the future

[macduffy]

I think they will be a takeover target in the future

Is there much left to take over?

Australian business, life cover, wealth management (including Kiwisaver), health insurance - all either spun off or sold over recent years. How much is a marginally profitable general insurance business worth?

[bull....]

actually the general insurance business is doing quite well, a lot of last results were one offs so if you add those back in not to bad , there market shares alright but probably hard to grow in nz by much there growth will come from the pacific islands so the value to someone is probably a big player already in the market who wants a little more market share and less players

[corpr8raider]

Share buy back papers arrived in the mail yesterday.

[Harvey Specter]

Share buy back papers arrived in the mail yesterday.

Whats is everyones thoughts on this. Shareprice is hovering around 1.80 so the offer of $1.81 doens't look that appealing. Given the offer is for only part of your holding, is the $1.81 offer price keeping the price up or pushing the price down (or is it true value?)?

At this stage, I think I might decline the offer and see if it goes up once it closes.

[Harvey Specter]

At this stage, I think I might decline the offer and see if it goes up once it closes.

I forgot about the dividend. I ended up accepting the offer.

Looks like 70% of shareholders took up the offer as 14% of shares will be cancelled.

It closed at 1.77 so the 1.81 is a small premium and no brokerage. Will be interesting to see if it just drifts in the 1.70-1.80 range from now or if we will see more action.

[macduffy]

Brian Gaynor poses a few questions for shareholders to ask at next Wednesday's Annual Meeting.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=11195066