Finland-based insurance group Sampo has brokered a deal with Rand Merchant Investment (RMI) to take complete ownership of UK property and casualty insurer Hastings.

As per the deal, Sampo has agreed to pay £685m ($905.09m) for South Africa-based RMI’s 30% stake in Hastings.

It includes RMI’s option to acquire a 10% stake in Hastings by May 2022.

Notably, Sampo and RMI formed a jointly owned company to buy Hastings in 2020 for £1.66bn ($2.2bn).

Sampo owned and controlled 70% of the shares and votes in the JV while RMI owned 30%.

When combined with the earlier transaction, Sampo will pay approximately £1.85bn ($2.44bn) for a 100% stake in Hastings.

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Sampo Group CEO and president Torbjörn Magnusson said: “Since completing the acquisition of Hastings in November 2020, I have been ever more impressed by the high quality of its operations and personnel. I am delighted that we have had the opportunity to take our ownership to 100%.

“As the sole owner of Hastings, Sampo will gain full control of strategy, governance and capital management, enabling more agile decision making and frictionless knowledge sharing with If P&C. I look forward to working even closer with Hastings to execute on its strategic initiatives and capitalising on its strong position in the digital UK P&C insurance market.”

Meanwhile, BE Group is reportedly planning to buy Belgian insurance firm Ageas again.

As per media reports, if the deal goes through it would be one of the largest deals in the financial services market in Europe in 2021.