MultiStrat ‘ready to scale’ as it marks 10th anniversary
MultiStrat, a Bermuda-based specialist underwriter and collateralised reinsurance investment platform, is “ready to scale”, its founder has said.
Bob Forness, who founded MultiStrat a decade ago, said the company had deployed $1.75 billion in capital for investors since its inception and had underwritten and placed more than 50 single and multiclass transactions since 2014.
This included more than $500 million in premium underwritten for deals for one alternative asset manager, and multiple single transactions in excess of $100 million in premium, he said.
““MultiStrat is a proven innovator of ILS casualty,” said Forness, who is chief executive officer. “MultiStrat has been steadily growing for a number of years, scaling its operation, and building an industry standard for the use of collateralised casualty reinsurance. “
He added: “Building a collateralised reinsurance specialist for cedents and investors has taken time but is now ready to scale.
“As an innovator in a new asset class, MultiStrat has successfully solved many challenges, including an initial soft market and low investment yield environment in casualty, continual education needs of investors, new designs for collateral and investments, and, more recently, improved collateral transparency. Our company has a proven track record and is excited for our next chapter.
“We are proud of what MultiStrat has accomplished since its first ILS casualty transaction in 2017 and look forward to collaborating further with brokers on attractive reinsurance opportunities, and with investors on diversified opportunities to participate in this growing alternative asset class.”
Jim Robinson, CEO of MultiStrat’s capital arm, added: “The ILS space is continuing to grow and expand into different risk classes, providing more opportunities for institutional investors looking for total insurance and investment returns through high frequency, low severity business.”
MultiStrat primarily underwrites medium and long-duration casualty coverages and structures collateral using investor capital as both single transactions and diversified pools. MultiStrat has advised on the formation and servicing of a range of segregated accounts, cells and other structures to suit cedant, carrier and investor requirements.
Last year and early this year, the company made a number of senior appointments in underwriting, capital markets and operations internationally, opened a New York office, and expanded its collateralized reinsurance offerings.
For the investor relations team based primarily in New York, new appointments include:
John Stelwagon as senior managing director, with 30 years of experience in debt capital markets, including leverage finance, distressed debt, CLOs, credit derivatives and structured products.
Greg Komansky as a managing director, with 25 years of quantitative experience spanning asset management, portfolio construction, and quantitative trading, including the creation of JP Morgan’s Global Quantitative Program Trading Product (APTO) and CitiGroup Asset Management’s Global Smart Beta and a Dynamically Hedged SPX fund.
Jason Berkson as an associate with prior experience covering banks and insurance companies in the Debt Capital Markets group of HSBC.
Ben Friedberg as an associate with experience in asset-backed securities and warehouse lending for Citigroup Global Markets, and previously with OneMain Financial and Ernst & Young.
For the underwriting team headquartered in Bermuda, MultiStrat has added:
Kier James as vice president and senior underwriter, with more than 13 years of experience in ILS and reinsurance, most recently with Everest Re (Bermuda) and a Bermuda-licensed attorney.
Maryam Abdullah as senior actuarial consultant with more than 20 years of actuarial and 10 years of broker experience specializing in structured and capital relief transactions for Guy Carpenter, Acrisure and as head of capital for Capsicum Re (Gallagher Re).
Heejae Cho as a senior underwriting and actuarial consultant with 20 years of experience as an actuary and underwriter, previously at Arch and AXA XL.
Ian Oakley as a market consultant with 40 years of experience in reinsurance and claims, most recently as head of programs for DTW Syndicate, and previously head of casualty reinsurance at Renaissance Re Syndicate 1458.
And for MultiStrat’s operations team based in the US and Bermuda, new hires include:
Jamie Lamberson as treasurer with over 11 years of experience in reinsurance accounting, client relationship management, risk management and operational leadership.
Johnny Ringold as a reinsurance and claims consultant with almost 20 years of experience, previously with Fidelis and Lancashire.
Did you get value from this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.
