Sun Alliance (company)


Sun Alliance Group plc was a large insurance business based in London. It merged with Royal Insurance in 1996 to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group.

History

The company had its origins in Sun Fire Office, the oldest documented insurance company in the world, which was founded in London in 1710.
Sun Insurance merged with Alliance Assurance, a business which had been founded by Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore in 1824, to form Sun Alliance Insurance in 1959.
In the mid-1960s the newly-merged company established its administrative centre in a large office block in Horsham and its head office at 1 Bartholomew Lane in London.
Sun Alliance went on to acquire London Assurance in 1965 and Phoenix Assurance in 1984.
After changing its name to Sun Alliance Group in 1989, the company consolidated its operations at a new development, known as St Mark's Court, in Horsham in 1990, while retaining its head office in London.
The company merged with Royal Insurance to form the Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group in 1996.