A new investment vehicle has listed on the London Stock Exchange to raise £150 million ($265.97 million) to acquire insurtechs.

Financials Acquisition Corp is a special purpose acquisition company or “SPAC”, a shell company that uses initial public offer (IPO) proceeds to buy another company. It listed on the LSE this month after UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority changed its rules in July to enable listings of SPACs.

CEO William Allen says he has been “looking forward to taking advantage of the changes”.

“Putting more of these assets into public hands will be good for the market as a whole,” he said.

Mr Allen set up Financials Acquisition Corp through a partnership vehicle called Finsac with Andrew Rear, the founder of Munich Re's Digital Partners who previously built Oliver Wyman's insurance consulting business and is a board member on a number of insurtechs.

“Our combined global network and track record in insurance give us confidence that we will attract ideal targets in the space and we look forward to bringing a partnership to market soon,” Mr Rear said.

Financials Acquisition Corp will focus on insurtech managing general agents, technology-enabled distribution, and fintech, insurtech, regtech, and software-as-a-service when looking for the insurtech firm it wishes to take public.

Mr Allen says Financials Acquisition Corp is the first UK SPAC focused on the insurtech industry.

“Ambitious tech-enabled insurers are driving growth as they disrupt traditional markets,” he said. “Much of this transformation currently stems from private investments and we believe now is the right time to bring these next generation companies to the public market.”