Canopius Group Ltd has become the latest Lloyd’s insurer to launch a Bermuda platform with the formation of Canopius Bermuda Ltd, a class 3 reinsurance company with $250mn of capital.
The private equity backed insurer has appointed the former Endurance chief operating officer Susan Patschak to head the start-up, together with a Bermudian underwriting agency, Canopius Underwriting Bermuda Ltd, which plans to source business for the group’s Lloyd’s Syndicate 4444, The Insurance Insider can reveal.
Canopius Bermuda will write a combination of property catastrophe and terrorism exposures, together with excess casualty, medical malpractice and workers’ compensation catastrophe.
The Lloyd’s insurer is the latest in a wave of EC3 insurers, such as Amlin and Hiscox, who have formed Bermuda operations following the market dislocation which occurred after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Canopius chairman Michael Watson remarked: “The prospect of launching our new platform in Bermuda is very exciting. It gives us access to new markets and will further diversify the lines of business that we underwrite. Canopius Bermuda will build its own franchise, at a gradual pace, reflecting current market conditions.”
The $250mn is comprised of existing group resources and $100mn of new equity and debt capital. The Bermuda operation will also provide capital support to Lloyd’s Syndicate 4444.
The move also comes at a time when the (re)insurer – which is majority owned by Englefield Capital – has appointed corporate advisers Benfield Advisory and Fox-Pitt Kelton to consider “strategic alternatives” that could result in a sale.
Interest in Lloyd’s from overseas (re)insurers has fuelled takeover prices, with Validus’ acquisition of Talbot Holdings and Ariel Re’s recent purchase of Atrium Underwriting both attracting high exit figures.
Canopius – formed from a 2003 management buy-out led by Watson – has itself expanded through a combination of organic growth and acquisition and currently underwrites with capacity of $1bn on its Lloyd’s platform.
Patschak’s appointment remains subject to Bermuda immigration approval.