Brit third-party capital now $440m, renews Bermuda sidecar Versutus

Specialty re/insurer Brit's total managed ILS capacity has expanded to $440 million for 2019, following the completion of its fifth annual renewal of Bermuda sidecar Versutus 2019 Series.

Versutus offers access to Brit’s underwriting franchise through two sub series, one covering worldwide property catastrophe reinsurance business and the other covering North American property binders.

This development follows the authorisation of Sussex Capital UK PCC in November 2018, a move aimed at enhancing the Bermuda-domiciled collateralised reinsurance platform Sussex Capital, launched in January 2018, with initial funding of $102.5 million.

Sussex Capital writes through Sussex Re in Bermuda and Sussex Capital UK PCC in London, providing direct collateralised reinsurance as well as collateralised reinsurance to Brit’s reinsurance portfolio.

Syndicate 2988. which launched in 2017, has a planned gross written premium of $158.7 million for the 2019 year of account, an increase of 12 percent over 2018.

The total managed capacity across Versutus, Sussex Capital and Syndicate 2988 is now approximately $440 million.

“The renewal and expansion of our ILS capacity, alongside the growth in planned gross written premium for Syndicate 2988, continues our successful strategy of managing capital for third parties by offering access to Brit’s leading underwriting capabilities, deep client relationships and extensive distribution network," said Brit CEO Matthew Wilson.

"In addition, the launch of Sussex Capital UK has also provided an important new access point to the Property Catastrophe segment. Taken together, these initiatives represent excellent progress as we continue to develop and enhance our capital markets participation.”