What does the More Than deal mean for the future of Ardonagh and RSA?

Both RSA and Ardonagh have their own distinct futures ahead. Ardonagh is a private equity-backed broker growing via consolidation, and RSA is intent on sharpening focus on its commercial broking relationships. The two have struck a deal on More Than's motor renewal book. Saxon East asks what more we can read into this agreement.

Now that the dust is settling on the Ardonagh deal to buy the RSA-owned More Than personal lines motor renewal book, some conclusions can be drawn.

The first one surrounds the future of Ardonagh. Before this deal, there had been widespread market talk that the consolidator might sell off one of its UK divisions. The rationale was clear enough: Ardonagh would want to clean up the group in preparation for a sale.

As reported in Insurance Age in November 2022, Ardonagh had £2.68bn net debts