LifeStar Insurance plc, a MFSA-licensed Maltese insurance firm, has filed court proceedings against its regulator MFSA and one of its top officials. Paolo Catalfamo, the majority shareholder of LifeStar Insurance, formerly Global Capital, has taken MFSA to court, claiming “arbitrary and capricious treatment” and accused the regulator’s Chief Office Supervision, Christopher Buttigieg, of pressuring him to sell his company to a competitor. LifeStar Insurance initiated judicial proceedings against the regulator, alleging undue interference.
Christopher Buttigieg made the headlines for the wrong reasons in the past years. He was the promoter of the failed project which labeled Malta a “blockchain island.” His failed project cost the Maltese taxpayers some €3 million. Buttigieg sits on the MFSA’s Executive Committee with Michelle Mizzi Buontempo and Edwina Licari. He is a member of the Board of Supervisors of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Banking Authority (EBA). It is not yet known whether he was asked to resign following these serious allegations.
In his court submissions, Paolo Catalfamo (pictured left) claims Christopher Buttigieg actively pushed him to sell his company to a competitor, IVAlife Insurance. LifeStar Insurance (https://lifestarinsurance.com) operates a network of insurance intermediaries and has been active in Malta for 60 years as country representative for Bupa – the leading global health insurance principal – since 1971.
Catalfamo purports that on more than one occasion, starting at a meeting in May 2020, Buttigieg asked why he, Catalfamo, would not sell his LifeStar Insurance to IVAlife if only to avoid making his life miserable having to deal with the MFSA. LifeStar Insurance said in its submissions that Buttigieg went as far as to remind Catalfamo of his health issues, asking him “why he would not enjoy life instead of making himself miserable.”
Catalfamo also accuses the MFSA of “arbitrary and capricious treatment” and insists LifeStar Insurance continues to be “subject to unjust pressure by the Authority” even after its direction to proceed with an initial public offering and subordinated bond issue, despite misgivings. Lifestar Insurance claims Buttigieg raised the sale of LifeStar Insurance to IVAlife again in a subsequent meeting with Catalfamo and two of the company’s advisors.
However, neither LifeStar Insurance nor Catalfamo ever received a reasonable purchase offer from IVAlife or any of its subsidiaries. Sources said LifeStar Insurance was valued at €40 million by PWC following a significant restructuring. IVAlife received a license as an insurance undertaking in 2021.
Paolo Catalfamo serves as Chairman of LifeStar Holding plc., a financial conglomerate listed on the Malta Stock Exchange. He is Chairman of LifeStar Insurance plc, Chairman of LifeStar Health Ltd and Chairman of GlobalCapital Financial Management ltd. All entities are regulated by the MFSA.
In its court application, the company claims that a series of regulatory actions triggered by the MFSA and Buttigieg could easily be attributed to trying to force it to sell to IVAlife.
