New insurance and reinsurance business, Vantage Group Holdings Ltd., led by industry veterans Dinos Iordanou as Non-Executive Chairman and Greg Hendrick as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), has announced its launch.
At the same time, the company has announced the launch of its wholly owned re/insurance subsidiary, Vantage Risk Ltd., a provider of property catastrophe and specialty reinsurance across property and casualty classes of business.
The re/insurer states that it has been launched in the wake of years of heightened loss activity in the insurance industry, and will leverage industry-leading talent and tech to underwrite business where existing capacity is declining.
Vantage Risk will offer property cat reinsurance covering predominantly North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia, as well as specialty P&C lines including marine, energy, aviation, crop, workers’ comp, property per-risk, and mortgage. Furthermore, in 2021, the firm has plans to launch insurance products in Bermuda and North America.
Together with management, the Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman have invested $1 billion of equity capital in Vantage, and there’s potential for investors to raise their investment as growth opportunities arise.
As previously announced, Vantage’s leadership team includes a number of career industry executives: Chris McKeown, Chief Executive of Reinsurance, Innovation and ILS; Jack Kuhn, Chief Executive of Insurance; Aurora Swithenbank, Chief Financial Officer; Peter Hahn, Chief Data and Analytics Officer; Gail McGiffin, Chief Information and Operations Officer (effective in January 2021); Bobbi Andersen, General Counsel; Nikki Gonzalez, Chief Talent Officer; Peta White, President of Vantage Risk (effective in January 2021); and Nick Pritchard, Head of Property Catastrophe Underwriting.
Hendrick commented: “2020 has reinforced the riskier nature of our world and the re/insurance markets. Risk changes constantly, and we in the insurance industry must demonstrate our ability to evolve with it, to offer clients coverage that meets their current challenges. To do that, we brought together some of the brightest, most experienced minds in re/insurance to approach the new world of risk in a fresh way — with curiosity at its core and creativity as its engine. At Vantage, we will address the risks others avoid with smart technology and robust analytics.”
Iordanou added: “We knew it was time — time to offer the property & casualty market new insights into the evolving and increasingly complex and very demanding global risk environment. Our team at Vantage has the talent, the knowledge, the expertise and the vision to apply all the tools at our disposal to move the insurance industry into the 21st century.”
Brian Schreiber, Head of Carlyle Insurance Solutions, commented: “Vantage is launching at an opportune time, when the market needs additional risk capacity and knowledgeable underwriters who understand the evolving nature of risk management.”
John Redett, Head of Carlyle’s Global Financial Services group, said: “Carlyle is thrilled to partner with an exceptional management team and experienced insurance investors, and we look forward to helping build Vantage into a market-leading franchise.”
David Tunnell, Partner at Hellman & Friedman, noted: “For the first time since 2001, the global re/insurance markets are clearly demanding fresh capital and fresh thinking. We are excited to partner with Greg and Dinos – who we have known and admired for decades – and the team they have assembled at Vantage.”
While Hunter Philbrick, Partner at Hellman & Friedman, added: “As a new, built-for-purpose platform, Vantage will be uniquely positioned to capitalize on the enormous market opportunity and build a long-term competitive advantage by attracting world-class talent and deploying industry-leading technology, data and analytics.”
