None other than Guy Fawked himself.
Breaking on Sky News:
Guy Hands, the private equity tycoon who last week lost control of EMI, the music company, is in talks to buy Chaucer Holdings, the Lloyd’s of London insurer, I have learned.
Chaucer, which has a market value of almost £300m, has just issued a statement that it has received a number of takeover approaches but without naming the bidders:
Let’s hope he’s not been tricked into buying this Lloyd’s of London insurer, which boasts a Russian-backed private equity group as one its biggest shareholders.
On a more serious note, Guy Fawked still has €1.4bn left to invest out of the €5.4bn Terra Firma Capital Partners III fund he raised in 2007.
It’s difficult to see how a takeover of Chaucer — market value £335m — will be the deal that turns things around. But you have to admire the chutzpah.
However, there are other buyers in the running for Chaucer including private equity, a trade buyer and an industry veteran, reckons the FT’s insurance correspondent Paul Davies.
Related link:
Investors split over backing Hands again – FT