Fairfax Financial Agrees to Sell 30% Stake in Brit to Ontario Pension Fund

Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. will sell as much as 30 percent of Brit plc to the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System two months after agreeing to buy the Lloyd’s of London insurer for $1.88 billion.

Fairfax said Wednesday it reached an agreement with OMERS, which oversees $52 billion in pension assets, to sell the stake at $4.30 a share, equivalent to the cash offer that the Toronto-based insurer is paying Brit’s shareholders. OMERS doesn’t currently own any shares in Brit.

Private-equity firms Apollo Global Management and CVC Capital Partners Ltd., which control about 73 percent of Brit shares, agreed to sell the company on Feb. 17. They were among investors that sold stock in Brit’s initial public offering in March that raised 240 million pounds and valued the shares at 240 pence ($3.54) apiece.

–With assistance from Kiel Porter in London.