The purchase of Catlin Group by the global insurer XL Group Plc is to proceed according the their Press Release of yesterday.  The new entity will trade as XL Catlin, with the parent company remaining as XL Group.  According to the press release, the companies are expecting the transaction to be completed in mid-2015.

What’s interesting about this is, aside from the ongoing consolidation in the market, XL and Catlin both have a substantial commitment to marine, and particularly in Asia.  They both have full service offices in Singapore and Hong Kong and write large marine books of hull, cargo, specie and, to a lesser extent, liabilities.  They are both also writing in China and Australia and, from a marine perspective, both are strong leaders.  Whilst Catlin is the longer established leader in marine cargo, XL have recently brought in Mike Davies and Joanne Chan in Singapore and Hong Kong respectively.  Hull is well looked after by Paul Hackett and Timothy Lee at Catlin and Steve Preston and Barbara Pao at XL.

It’s going to be interesting to see how the rest of the market react to this news, but we would like to see some of the (many) following markets take the opportunity to step up and become leaders, thereby consolidating some of the over-capacity in to fewer leading markets.  Time will tell and we don’t expect any significant changes for XL or Catlin for some time.

If you have a placement with either Catlin or XL and would like to know more, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected].

Update, 3rd May 2015

As XL and Catlin suggested they would, they have completed the deal and, as of tomorrow 4th May 2015, many of their offices will be merged (including Singapore) and they will be trading as XL Catlin.  Most marine positions have now been announced, with only a few left to go combining two already substantial teams in to an even bigger player, with enhanced capacity.

See the full latest announcement here.

If you would like any information on placements that you have with either XL or Catlin, please don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected]

 

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