Cowdery prepares £600m bid for US insurer

Insurance pioneer Clive Cowdery has tabled a bid for a US insurer in the tycoon's first attempt to enter the American market.

The founder of Resolution is looking to buy Lincoln Benefit Life, a group currently owned by US insurance giant Allstate, in a deal worth up to £600m, according to the Sunday Times. Cowdery is up against a joint bid for the company from private equity firms TPG Capital and JC Flowers. The 50-year-old founded former FTSE 100-listed Resolution plc almost a decade ago. It was acquired by the Pearl Group, now Phoenix Group, in May 2008.