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If the management achieve the top amount we will have an extremely valuable business on our hands

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"If the management achieve the top amount we will have an extremely valuable business on our hands." DMGT expects the deal to be earnings-enhancing in the first year after the acquisition.In the year to December 1996, the last year for which audited accounts are available, RMS made a net income of $0.4m on revenues of $24.2m Its net assets were $10.2m. RMS numbers 300 of the world's leading insurance and reinsurance companies among its clients.DMGT will pay an initial consideration of $65m, and will make further payments to RMS's founders and management over the next four years, according to performance. The minimum payment is $21m, while the maximum is $145m.Peter Williams, finance director of DMGT, said the targets for future payments were ambitious. Peter Thal Larsen reports. Risk Management Solutions (RMS), based in California, provides insurance companies with information and software which allows them to assess the risk of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tornadoes and helps them to set their premiums efficiently. Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT), the newspaper and television group, yesterday bolstered its insurance information operations by buying Risk Management Solutions, a US software company.

DMGT reckons that the acquisition, which will cost it a maximum $210m (pounds 129m), fits well with the group's existing businesses. However, Lloyd's yesterday said it had reduced this number to 800, including the 600 who went to court.A spokesman for Lloyd's said the minority who had resisted the settlement were now looking at larger debts. This was because they had forfeited the right to debt credits offered to names who agreed to take part.. But the judge, Mr Justice Tuckey, said the records were now in order.The judgement opens the way for Lloyd's to extract payment from those Names who have not contributed to the 1996 agreement, which settled Lloyd's massive debts.Ron Sandler, Lloyd's new chief executive, said: "This is an important decision in assisting Lloyd's debt recovery from Names who did not accept the reconstruction and renewal programme. Equitas was formed in 1996 to reinsure more than pounds 10bn of losses made between 1988 and 1992. The Names claimed Lloyd's had used inaccurate records in an effort to assess their debts, including amounts not owed to Equitas.Lloyd's admitted it had made mistakes in assessing the amounts owed to Equitas, including other debts which were owed to Lloyd's itself. It will be welcomed by all those members - over 94 per cent - who accepted the settlement offer and met their liabilities."When the settlement was first announced in 1996, nearly 2,000 names resisted, effectively leaving other Lloyd's names to pay the bill on their behalf. More than 600 investors with Lloyd's of London yesterday failed in their legal bid to prevent the insurance market from pursing them for pounds 130m of debts.

The investors - known as names - had challenged an attempt by Lloyd's to recover money for its rescue vehicle, Equitas, in the High Court. "No institution considers this offer to be full and fair," a shareholder said. "Emerson can talk until they're blue in the face but they can't force us to accept it.". "We're not going to be bounced into accepting it."Astec's independent directors are currently taking legal advice about the current position, which is believed to be unprecedented in recent takeover history. They are thought to be examining the validity of Emerson's threat to suspend dividend payments.Emerson, however, has yet to make a formal offer for the 49 per cent of Astec it does not already own.

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