Retiring AutoSure founder pockets $68m

By PAULA OLIVER

The low-profile founder of AutoSure has sold the business he started from scratch for $68 million.

John Copson, a reluctant inclusion in this year's NBR Rich List with a self-made fortune estimated at $125 million, launched the insurance company in 1986.

Then an ambitious 27-year-old, he went on to build an empire that now includes significant commercial property interests - and, until yesterday, the AutoSure and Crown Insurance brands.

Listed market giant Promina, through its Vero subsidiary, bought them for $68 million.

Copson suspended his self-imposed media invisibility yesterday to explain the deal.

He admitted to a pang of emotion about letting the businesses go, but said he was pleased with the sale.

"I'm going to be staying on as a consultant, and I've been given an absolute assurance that the company will operate completely independently and there will be no redundancies," Copson said. "It will be pretty much business as usual."

AutoSure provides warranty and credit insurance products to the motor vehicle industry, while Crown Insurance is involved in the retail finance industry, covering office products, whiteware and brownware.

The sale will see Vero take over all of the future business of AutoSure and Crown, and negotiations are under way for it also to manage the past business for Copson.

The decision to sell came after Copson was approached by another insurer months ago.

"I just laughed at them and didn't really take it too seriously," he said.

But he did seek advice from Deutsche Bank, which recommended he take a wider look at the idea. A competitive sale process was launched and Vero eventually declared the winner.

Vero chief executive Roger Bell said the AutoSure business had the largest market share in its niche, and was attractive because of its success.

Its staff, many of whom had been at the company since Copson started it 18 years ago, would stay on.

So what did Copson plan to do with the money that had landed in his back pocket?

"Right at the moment, I have no ... ," he trailed off.

"I obviously have other interests like commercial property, so I'll be giving those my fuller attention. But I am staying on as a consultant to Vero."

He had no plans to start another business at this stage, he said.

Copson said he preferred to get on with his job, ahead of maintaining a public profile. Appearing in the Rich List was "not something that does a lot for me", he said, and he would prefer not to be in it.

But despite his reluctance, he has occasionally found himself in the headlines. Last year it was for buying Eric Watson's space-age Takapuna mansion, which went on the market for $6 million.