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The disgraced former LV boss who tried to sell the British mutual insurance company to an American buyout firm has been ousted from his last company after shareholders rejected a similar plan to sell the company.
Mark Hartigan left LV in 2021 with his reputation in tatters after members voted against his plan to sell the 181-year-old mutual to Bain Capital for £530m.
He was eventually forced to resign (albeit with a £500,000 ‘golden goodbye’) following a campaign by the Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday.
Ousted: Mark Hartigan left LV with his reputation in tatters in 2021 after members voted against his controversial plan to sell the 181-year-old mutual to Bain Capital.
Hartigan, a former Army colonel, resurfaced earlier this year at Berlin-based insurance technology firm Wefox, where he immediately put it up for sale.
Wefox had been valued at £3.6bn two years ago, but fintechs have since fallen out of favor with investors and their value has plunged.
Hartigan warned the company was facing insolvency and entered into talks with insurance broker Ardonagh, The Mail on Sunday revealed, calling him “shameless”.
Sources said he would receive a £20m bonus if the sale went through.
But the plans upset existing shareholders, and Hartigan was accused of using the same “scare tactics” he had used at LV to try to scare them into a liquidation sale.
And in a dramatic twist, it was reported yesterday that Wefox’s board rejected the Ardonagh deal, which was said to be worth £465m, and Hartigan will be replaced as chief executive at the end of the year.
The vote to keep LV (formerly known as Liverpool Victoria) out of Bain’s clutches was a victory for the mutual.
LV has since recovered and posted a pre-tax profit of £107m in 2023, a big turnaround from a £145m loss the previous year.
David Hyman, who replaced Hartigan as chief executive, has promised to maintain LV’s mutual status and protect it from asset strippers.
Wefox, which declined to comment, is backed by some of the world’s biggest technology investors, including Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala.
Ardonagh also declined to comment.
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