B.P. Marsh and Partners Plc (AIM:BPM), the specialist private equity investor in early stage financial services businesses, is pleased to announce that it has subscribed for a 30% Cumulative Preferred Ordinary shareholding in Stewart Specialty Risk Underwriting Ltd (“SSRU”).
SSRU is a start-up Specialty Casualty Underwriting Agency, based in Toronto, Canada, and has been approved by the Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario.
Established in 2016, by its CEO Stephen Stewart, SSRU will provide specialist insurance products to a wide array of clients in the Construction, Manufacturing, Onshore Energy, Public Entity and Transportation sectors.
SSRU’s CEO, Stephen Stewart, has over 25 years’ experience in the insurance industry. Prior to establishing SSRU, Stephen worked in a number of senior management roles at both Ironshore and Lombard in Canada. At Ironshore he was pivotal in developing and executing the strategy for launching the Canadian Specialty Property and Casualty division.
In addition to the equity, a six year loan facility of CAD $0.85m (c. £0.48m) is being provided by the Company; provision of funds will be subject to SSRU meeting certain conditions.
The investment represents the latest geographic expansion of B.P. Marsh’s investment portfolio, with the North American continent now represented alongside Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Europe and the UK. North America continues to be an area of focus for the Group.
Dan Topping, Chief Investment Officer of the Company, commenting on this investment stating “We are very pleased to be making this investment in SSRU and are looking forward to working with the experienced Management team to enable SSRU to deliver substantial growth and robust results over the coming years.”
Stephen Stewart, SSRU’s CEO, commented: “I am excited to enter into this partnering relationship with B.P. Marsh. They are a strong team with a proven record of sound investments and sustainable strategic partnerships.
“SSRU is proud to be serving the Canadian commercial casualty market at a time when experience, market familiarity and ease of doing business are valued more than ever before. SSRU will provide an innovative source of stable, domestic, A-rated lead capacity that is not otherwise available in the primary market. Designed for Canadian based businesses with severity driven and U.S. exposures, our syndicated line shields customers from counterparty exposure while protecting our capacity providers from claims volatility.”
Oliver Bogue, an Investment Director at the Company, who will be appointed to the Board of SSRU as the Company’s nominee director, commented “I am pleased to be joining the Board of SSRU following the investment from B.P. Marsh. The recent trend of consolidation in the Canadian Insurance market alongside SSRU’s distinctive capacity offering provides considerable opportunities for SSRU and I look forward to working with Management to deliver meaningful growth.”
Recent Comments