Lloyd’s third party managing agent, Asta Capital, has announced the completion of the sale of its Pelican Underwriting One Limited managing general agent (MGA) to Manchester Underwriting Management Limited.
Pelican was established in 2015 in partnership with reinsurance giant Munich Re, which acted as the MGA’s capacity provider. The MGA specialises in underwriting solicitors’ professional indemnity in both England and Wales.
Since its inception, Pelican has been managed and also received financial backing from Asta.
Asta Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Julian Tighe, said: “We are pleased that the sale of Pelican Underwriting to MUM has completed. This is our first sale of a MGA since we started our MGA management business in 2015 and demonstrates Asta’s ability to develop start up underwriting entities across the insurance spectrum and see them through the lifecycle to the next phase of their business life. We wish Pelican every success and are confident it will continue to grow under MUM’s ownership.”
Manchester Underwriting is a specialist MGA that operates both internationally and in the UK, and during 2017 expanded its footprint into property owners, casualty and cyber, and also shares a close relationship with Munich Re, whose subsidiary Great Lakes Insurance will continue to support Pelican with capacity.
Manchester Underwriting CEO, Charles Manchester, commented: “Solicitors’ professional indemnity (PI) is a challenging area and, in my opinion, there is nobody better at it than Pelican Underwriting. We already have a major position in the UK and international PI market and Pelican will be accretive to that, fitting perfectly into the group as MUM, too, focuses on top quality service and underwriting.”
While Jay Bowey, Director of Pelican, added: “Whilst it is business as usual at Pelican Underwriting, I am hugely excited to be joining the MUM team and am thoroughly looking forward to working in an environment where Pelican can grow and continue to focus on offering the specialist services our clients need.”
