Financier reported to be stalking insurance giant

A financier best known for his attempt to buy the Co-op has £2.4bn-valued (€3.6bn) insurer Royal & Sun Alliance in his sights, it was reported today.

Andrew Regan is understood to have identified the UK’s second biggest insurer - owner of the More Than brand – at the start of this year, the Sunday Times said.

The report emerged at the end of a week in which shares in the FTSE 100 Index company surged 5% amid speculation that an unnamed “high profile UK entrepreneur” was working on a bid. More than 80 million shares changed hands on Friday, making it the second most traded stock behind Vodafone.

Mr Regan, who made his first fortune from the Cadismark household products business he founded after leaving school at 17, is believed to have been examining a number of potential takeovers, with RSA his top target.

Last month he flew to New York to arrange financing although there are number of potential hurdles, including a sizeable pension deficit and the group’s troubled American arm, the newspaper added.