The chair of the all-party parliamentary group for mutuals (AAPG) has written to LV= chairman Alan Cook to understand his motivations for the sale of the insurer to US firm Bain Capital and whether he received any remuneration for it.
In a letter seen by International Adviser, Gareth Thomas MP said that Cook has been “the one constant in the leadership of LV=” during its conversion to a limited company in May 2019, chief executive changes, the decision to not hold an annual general meeting in 2020 and to demutualise LV= and sell it in October 2020.
According to Thomas, Cook was instrumental in reassuring clients that the firm had no intention to demutualise, but then changed his views completely and agreed to an M&A deal.
He said: “There are growing questions about Cook’s role in some of the key moments that have led to this proposed demutualisation. Member owners of Liverpool Victoria are entitled to know if Cook benefited from the sale to Bain Capital.
“Previous demutualisations have seen the quality of products and services for customers decline whilst the pay of the business leadership has rocketed.”
A spokesperson for LV= said: “We received the letter from Gareth Thomas last Thursday [22 April 2021] and will be responding in due course.”
