Premarket London: IAG Buys Air Europa; Hiscox Warns of Storms Hit

Investing.com — Here is a roundup of regulatory news releases from the London Stock Exchange on Monday, 4th November. Please refresh for updates

• British Airways’ parent International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:) said it had agreed to buy Spanish long-haul specialist Air Europa for 1 billion euros ($1.11 billion) in cash, saying the deal “re-establishes IAG as a leader in the highly attractive Europe to Latin America and Caribbean market.”
• IAG (LON:) expects the deal to be earnings-accretive already in the first year after completion, which it expects in the second half of 2020
• “Acquiring Air Europa would add a new competitive, cost effective airline to IAG (LON:), consolidating Madrid as a leading European hub and resulting in IAG achieving South Atlantic leadership, therefore generating additional financial value for our shareholders,” CEO Willie Walsh said in a statement.
• Air Europa has a network of 69 destinations, including European routes to Latin America, the United States of America, the Caribbean and North Africa. In 2018, it generated revenue of €2.1 billion and an operating profit of €100 million. It carried 11.8 million passengers in 2018 and ended the year with a fleet of 66 aircraft.

Insurer Hiscox (LON:) announced a provision of $165 million to cover claims arising from Hurricane Dorian and Typhoons Faxai and Hagibis earlier this year and warned that there is still “significant” uncertainty over the final losses for the industry.

It also warned that fees and commissions will be around $25 million lower at year-end.

Additionally, Hiscox said it is exposed to the recent wildfires in California, but the scale of any potential loss is still unclear. The company still expects to post “a small positive reserve development” in aggregate for the year.

Gross written premiums grew 7.3% in the first nine months of the year, a slight uptick from a rate of 7% through the first half, and Hiscox said it expects 2020 to the third straight year of improving rates in the key London market.

• Takeaway.com (AS:) rejigged its proposed merger with Just Eat (LON:), saying that it will now proceed as a recommended offer, rather than through the court-approved scheme of arrangement previously announced.
• The threshold for acceptances is 75% of all Just Eat shares, including at least 50% of its voting shares.
• Just Eat said it continued to recommend the Takeaway offer over a rival all-cash bid of 710 pence per share from Prosus (AS:). Takeaway.com’s all-share offer valued the company at 731 pence per share.

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