Sky News has learnt that Kingswood Acquisition Corp. (NYSE:KWAC) signed a letter of intent to acquire Lombard International Assurance S.A. in the last few days. While a deal is not yet certain, the talks pave the way for one of the first takeovers of a British-based financial services business by a New York-listed Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). Lombard, which has been owned by Blackstone since 2014, had more than €47bn in assets under administration last June. Kingswood Acquisition is sponsored by the major shareholders in Kingswood Group, a UK-based wealth management firm, and is chaired by Gary Wilder. Pollen Street Capital, a private equity firm, is also a backer of the SPAC. Lombard is run by Stuart Parkinson, who was appointed as chief executive last year following a long stint running HSBC's private banking operations. Bank of America is advising Blackstone on the prospective sale, while Oppenheimer is advising Kingswood. Blackstone and Kingswood both declined to comment.