Helios Underwriting PLC, the Lloyd’s investment vehicle, has upped its capacity for 2024 to £501 million, as the company takes advantage of new syndicate opportunities.
This 2024 capacity represents a 61% increase from 2023, where total capacity stood at £310 million.
According to the firm, the growth has been achieved through a combination of exercising pre-emption rights across the freehold portfolio, building a tenancy portfolio as well as new syndicate opportunities, some of which are set to commence in H1 2024.
As a result, this substantial growth has enabled the organisation to increase the retained position by 58% to £387 million which will drive Helios ’earnings in the future.
Another important part to highlight, is that this growth has also allowed Helios to accommodate the strategic shift to a hybrid fee earning model by increasing the capacity allocated to Third Party capital providers.
Recently, Helios was revealed to have entered an arrangement with Argenta Private Capital, to provide investors with a “unique way to access the Lloyd’s of London market.”
Now, the organisation has provided more visibility in regards to what that can mean to Helios, with the Argenta arrangement set to contribute more than 10% of its capacity for 2024.
Helios called it a “ground-breaking sidecar initiative to “rent” up to £55m of capacity to private capital in conjunction with Argenta Private Capital Limited.”
Martin Reith, CEO, commented: “I am delighted to report that we have substantially grown our portfolio into 2024 and further positioned Helios to benefit from market discipline and the attractive pricing environment. We have built the portfolio to deliver superior returns across a diversified and volatility managed portfolio. As a consequence we expect to have in excess of £500m capacity deployed for the ‘24 YoA.”
Adding: “We have also started to shift the quality of our earnings away from pure underwriting returns and into a hybrid model where we have repeatable fee income generated by allowing access to our portfolio. Our “rental capacity” initiative with private capital is ground-breaking and allows investors a fast and efficient way to participate at the heart of some of the best syndicates trading at Lloyd’s and removes the requirement to buy and own freehold capacity to access a Lloyd’s portfolio.
“While deploying our own funds to the maximum, we have also added to the capital stack that supports the portfolio with proportional and non-proportional reinsurer support, sidecar capacity and rated debt. We are well positioned to secure further growth if we can originate other opportunities.
“I am thrilled that we have been able to significantly build the portfolio and to reinforce our value
proposition as a key part of private capital at Lloyd’s.”
