Independent program manager Distinguished Programs has entered into a definitive agreement for private investment firm Aquiline Capital Partners (Aquiline) to acquire a majority stake in the company and has announced senior leadership changes.
Aquiline is based in New York and London with $7.5 billion in assets under management, and has not released any details of the transaction.
In conjunction with Aquiline’s investment, Andy Potash, Founder and CEO of Distinguished, will retain a significant minority equity stake, whilst working on product development, and transitioning to an active role on its board of directors.
Bill Malloy has been appointed as CEO, along with Jason Rotman as President and Chief Financial Officer and Steve Sitterly as Chief Operating Officer.
The new team members have worked together in prior roles and bring highly complementary skillsets which will support Distinguished’s next phase of growth.
Distinguished currently underwrites and distributes insurance products across 14 programs with a technology-centric approach.
Current programs include property and casualty products for the Real Estate and Hospitality markets, as well as prize coverage for golf hole-in-one and other prize indemnification products.
Potash said: “When we started this process, we were hoping to raise capital to enable our continued and expanded investment in product development, technology and most importantly people, as well as find a CEO to succeed me.
“Aquiline has been exceptional in helping us meet all these goals and I couldn’t be more proud and more excited to be partnering with them and having Bill, Jason and Steve join Distinguished.”
Jeff Greenberg, Chairman and CEO of Aquiline Capital Partners commented: “Under the leadership of Andy Potash, Distinguished has established itself as a highly respected program manager with significant opportunities for continued organic and acquisition-based growth.
“We are excited to be working again with former Aquiline Partners and portfolio company executives in Bill, Jason and Steve and look forward to supporting them and the Distinguished team on this next phase of expansion.”
Malloy added: “Jason, Steve and I have long admired the quality of the organisation that Andy and the Distinguished team have built and are honoured to join the Company.
“We look forward to working closely with the team, as well as Distinguished’s distribution and carrier partners, to further build upon the platform through developing new programs internally, hiring additional underwriting teams and pursuing attractive acquisitions to expand our capabilities and reach.”
