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Insurance services provider and run-off acquirer Tawa is in talks with "several" potential clients about plans to provide a turnkey service in the London company market, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Tawa is currently poised to complete a deal for Lloyd's turnkey provider Whittington if one outstanding issue can be resolved, according to well-placed sources.

But the firm's plans to roll out a new turnkey service to the London company market is not contingent on successfully completing the transaction.

Gilles Erulin, CEO of Tawa, declined to comment on the ongoing Whittington negotiations, but told The Insurance Insider that the turnkey model used by Lloyd's could be an effective and cost efficient way for people looking to get started in the company market.

"Lloyd's does the turnkey system very well, but I'm not sure the company market does it as well," he said.

The project is currently in an "incubation" phase, but Tawa hopes to launch its first company during 2011 or early in 2012.

The firm plans to provide around five platforms for underwriting teams, managing general agencies and brokers looking for an experienced partner to help them navigate the challenges facing nascent projects.

Tawa has been aggressively ramping up its service provision segment in recent months. It forms part of its strategy for diversifying from its origins as a run-off acquirer into a more traditional insurance business with recurring and reliable revenue streams. The process begun with the acquisition of Pro from Swiss Re in 2009 for £38mn.

Combined with the potential addition of Whittington's Lloyd's platform, Tawa would have completed a metamorphosis into a service provider with formidable platforms in the US, continental Europe and, potentially, the Lloyd's and company market in London.

Last week (8 September), the firm announced the acquisition of Chiltington Group.

The transaction forms part of Tawa's ambition to expand the consultancy element of its service provision - targeting higher margins rather than the high-volume outsourcing work that accounts for around two thirds of Pro's revenue.

The revenues generated by turnkey provision, while not as lucrative as pure consultancy work, still typically have higher margins than pure outsourcing contracts.

Whittington is the dominant turnkey presence in the Lloyd's market at present. It currently manages six Lloyd's syndicates including Scor's new entrant Channel Syndicate 2015; WR Berkley; the Goldman Sachs-backed Arrow Syndicate; Syndicates 2525 and 2526, which were recently transferred from Alterra at Lloyd's; and new start-up Sirius Syndicate 1945.

The syndicates have a combined capacity of approximately £500mn for the 2011 year of account.

Tawa has trumped US private equity house Stone Point Capital to go exclusive in its talks with Whittington.