jonathan-reiss-crop
21 August 2019Operations

Hamilton acquires Pembroke Managing Agency, reshuffles leadership team

Hamilton Insurance Group has completed its acquisition of Pembroke Managing Agency and its platform at Lloyd’s, as well as Dublin-based carrier Ironshore Europe DAC, from Liberty Mutual Group.

Hamilton also promoted Jonathan Reiss, a founding member of the company, to president of strategic partnerships, a new business unit. He is responsible for developing the strategy and business plan for Hamilton’s strategic partnerships, including oversight of the its third-party capital platform, Hamilton Capital Partners. Reiss also develops proposals for potential investment opportunities.

Tony Ursano will replace Reiss in his former position of group CFO on September 5, with Reiss continuing this function in addition to his new role until then. Ursano joins from TigerRisk Partners where he had been president since 2015. Before that he was CEO of Willis Capital Markets and Advisory, and head of corporate development for the Willis Group for six years.

Ursano joined Willis from Banc of America Securities where he was global head of the financial institutions group for approximately nine years, before becoming a vice chairman of corporate and investment banking.

Hamilton sees the Pembroke acquisition as part of its goal of building a global, diversified specialty insurance and reinsurance franchise, as it builds its reinsurance franchise in the US and Europe. It solidifies Hamilton's position in specialty insurance and enhances its third-party capital management platform, while increasing fee-based income generated by managing third-party capital and syndicates at Lloyd’s.

The deal doubled Hamilton's total premium base, on a pro forma basis, to $1.1 billion and achieved scale at Lloyd’s, with total managed stamp capacity of approximately £600 million. The acquisition of Ironshore provides non-Lloyd’s capabilities and access to the US market via excess and surplus lines licensing and reinsurance permissions, and to EU markets via passporting rights.

AM Best reaffirmed the credit rating of Hamilton Re, its reinsurance platform, as A- , while Kroll Bond Rating Agency affirmed Hamilton Re’s insurance financial strength rating of A.

Pina Albo, Hamilton CEO, said: “Many will see this as a Lloyd’s acquisition, and while we have achieved meaningful scale in that market, this deal expands our opportunities far beyond Lloyd’s. Our talented team has become even stronger; and we now work in offices spanning a much larger geography. With the addition of our new operations, including Dublin, the US and Dubai, our ability to attract new clients and partners, and become more relevant to the ones we serve, has increased exponentially.”

He said the strategic partnerships business now run by Reiss, along with specialty insurance and reinsurance, represented three areas of particular strategic focus for Hamilton, where the company sees real opportunity for organic and non-organic growth.