US private equity firm Bain Capital has sold more than 68 million shares in New Zealand insurer Tower for $NZ1.30 a share, totalling $NZ88.8 million ($80.62 million).

Tower was placed in a trading halt at its request last week to let Bain sell its 20% stake, bought seven years ago from Suncorp brand Vero for $NZ53.9 million ($48.93 million).  

Bain paid NZ80c a share in 2018 after Suncorp’s $NZ1.40-a-share Tower takeover bid was rejected by the Commerce Commission.

Tower says Bain’s full shareholding has been allocated to investors in a block trade agreement, with Forsyth Barr and Goldman Sachs New Zealand joint lead managers.  

At the end of 2023, Goldman Sachs was appointed to review Tower’s capital structure. The insurer traded as low as NZ59c after losing $NZ5.1 million ($4.71 million) in the 2023 financial year when record floods and Cyclone Gabrielle struck the North Island.

Former CEO Blair Turnbull departed the insurer in February. He took over from Richard Harding in August 2020.