Australia's AUB to buy UK wholesale insurance broker Tysers for $620 million

(Reuters) -Australian insurance broker AUB Group said on Monday it would buy London-based Lloyd's wholesale insurer broker Tysers for A$880 million ($620.5 million) to expand the range of its products.

Tysers, the sixth largest wholesale broker in the Lloyd's marketplace, has about 1,100 employees and writes annual gross premiums of A$3.6 billion.

"Tysers provides AUB Group the ability to access a diverse range of risks and insurance types for our clients and broker networks in Australia and New Zealand," AUB Chief Executive Mike Emmett said in a statement.

The deal is expected to increase AUB's underlying proforma earnings per share by 30% and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023, AUB said.

The acquisition will be funded using a A$350 million equity raising, a placement of shares worth A$176 million, and a new A$675 million multi-currency debt facility, the company added.

Separately, the company entered a non-binding term sheet with PSC Insurance under which the insurance intermediary business will buy a 50% stake in Tysers' UK retail arm as a part of a 50:50 joint venture with AUB.

AUB also reaffirmed its fiscal 2022 financial forecast and said it continues to target a dividend payout ratio in line with its current range of 50-70%.

($1 = 1.4176 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Navya Mittal in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler and Muralikumar Anantharaman)