Insurance brokers Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) and Heath Lambert Group, both in London, have ended merger talks, with Heath calling the potential transaction not in the best interest of staff and clients.
In a brief statement, JLT said its talks with Heath on a potential bid for the firm had ended, but did not elaborate. For its part, Heath said it ended the talks with JLT yesterday.
Heath Group Chief Executive Adrian Colosso said in a statement, "We began discussions with the aim of combining our increasingly successful business model with the additional resources of JLT. As discussions progressed, we became less confident that we would be able to continue with this model and therefore less confident of achieving the objective. Proceeding would not have been in the best interests of our staff or our clients.
"The Heath Lambert way of doing business," he continued, "focusing more on clients and empowering our people to get on with things, is what has led to our turnaround. We will continue to build on our success and to grow, and will remain a strong independent for as long as it is in the best interests of all our stakeholders."
JLT confirmed speculation on July 4 that it was in talks with Heath.
For 2005, JLT, which is publicly traded, reported revenues of ?484.4 million (U.S. $889 million at current exchange rate) and profit before taxes of ?78.8 million ($144.6 million). Privately owned Heath's revenues for 2005 stood at ?110.5 million ($202.8 million) with a profit of ?1.1 million ($2.02 million).
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