Electra sells further stake in stock-market newbie esure

As part of esure's stock-market debut in London last month, FTSE 250 investment trust Electra Private Equity has sold off two-thirds of its stake.

Electra said on Tuesday that, as a result of the exercise by JPMorgan Securities of the over-allotment arrangement in connection with the initial public offering (IPO), it has sold four million of the six million esure shares it held post IPO.

These shares were sold at the IPO price of 290p, meaning that Electra received proceeds of £11.2m.

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UK online insurance venture esure's IPO on March 22nd was the biggest stock-market debut so far this year, valuing the company at around £1.2bn.

The company, which had 1.25m in-force motor policies and 0.5m in-force home policies at the end of 2012, was made famous by the late director Michael Winner who appeared in its TV adverts with the catchphrase "Calm down dear!"

esure was Electra's third-largest investment as of last year after it invested £30m - via Electra's stake in the Tosca Penta Investments LP fund - in the management buyout of the UK insurer from Lloyds in 2010.

Following Tuesday's transaction, Electra has now recovered £26.5m of its original investment.

The company retains two million shares in esure which are subject to lock-up arrangements are valued at £6.4m at the IPO price.