Australia’s second largest insurance company is looking for a buyer for some of its UK subsidiaries after announcing plans to scale back its operations.

Insurance Australia Group (IAG) is holding onto its specialist motor insurance underwriter Equity Red Star, but is to put some of its underperforming operations on the market, which could mean it will be listening to offers for UK Hastings Insurance, Advantage Insurance and the brokering arm of Equity Insurance.

“In the UK we’ve made some tough decisions, and will be scaling back our operations to focus solely on the more profitable segments, principally our successful Equity Red Star specialist underwriting business,” chairman James Strong said.

“This means we will look to sell some of our UK-based distribution businesses that no longer fit our corporate strategy.”

The UK represents 15 per cent of the group’s business and the decision to sell follows a strategic review of its worldwide operations.