MultiStrat, the specialist underwriter and reinsurance investment platform, has deployed $1.75 billion in capital through its deals so far and is targeting further “significant growth” in 2024.
At the same time, the firm has reached the 10 year anniversary of its formation, and has made a number of senior hires in its underwriting, capital markets and operations.
MultiStrat has also confirmed that it has continued to invest in advanced data, insurance and investment pricing, and portfolio optimization capabilities, in order to facilitate its future growth ambitions.
The company revealed that it has underwritten and placed more than 50 single and multiclass transactions since its launch in 2014.
In addition, the company has also deployed $1.75 billion in capital for investors, with more than $500 million in premium underwritten for deals for one alternative asset manager, and multiple single transactions in excess of $100 million in premium.
It is important to note that MultiStrat primarily underwrites medium and long-duration casualty coverages and structures collateral using investor capital as both single transactions and diversified pools.
Further, the company has also advised on the formation and servicing of a range of segregated accounts, cells, as well as other structures to suit cedant, carrier and investor requirements.
Bob Forness, Chief Executive Officer of MultiStrat, commented: “MultiStrat is a proven innovator of ILS Casualty. MultiStrat has been steadily growing for a number of years, scaling its operation, and building an industry standard for the use of collateralized casualty reinsurance. We are proud of what MultiStrat has accomplished since its first ILS Casualty transaction in 2017 and look forward to collaborating further with brokers on attractive reinsurance opportunities, and with investors on diversified opportunities to participate in this growing alternative asset class.”
Meanwhile, last year and early this year, the business has also made a number of senior appointments.
MultiStrat’s investor relations team, which is based primarily in New York, has been bolstered with:
- John Stelwagon as Senior Managing Director, with 30 years of experience in debt capital markets, including leverage finance, distressed debt, CLOs, credit derivatives and structured products.
- Greg Komansky as a Managing Director, with 25 years of quantitative experience spanning asset management, portfolio construction, and quantitative trading, including the creation of JP Morgan’s Global Quantitative Program Trading Product (APTO) and CitiGroup Asset Management’s Global Smart Beta and a Dynamically Hedged SPX fund.
- Jason Berkson as an Associate with prior experience covering banks and insurance companies in the Debt Capital Markets group of HSBC.
- Ben Friedberg as an Associate with experience in Asset-Backed Securities and Warehouse Lending for Citigroup Global Markets, and previously with OneMain Financial and Ernst & Young.
The firm has also added the following appointees to its underwriting team headquartered in Bermuda:
- Kier James as Vice President and Senior Underwriter, with more than 13 years of experience in ILS and reinsurance, most recently with Everest Re (Bermuda) and a Bermuda-licensed attorney.
- Maryam Abdullah as Senior Actuarial Consultant with more than 20 years of actuarial and 10 years of broker experience specializing in structured and capital relief transactions for Guy Carpenter, Acrisure and as Head of Capital for Capsicum Re (Gallagher Re).
- Heejae Cho as a Senior Underwriting and Actuarial Consultant with 20 years of experience as an actuary and underwriter, previously at Arch and AXA XL.
- Ian Oakley as a market consultant with 40 years of experience in reinsurance and claims, most recently as Head of Programs for DTW Syndicate, and previously Head of Casualty Reinsurance at Renaissance Re Syndicate 1458.
And for MultiStrat’s operations team based in the US and Bermuda, new hires include:
- Jamie Lamberson as Treasurer with over 11 years of experience in reinsurance accounting, client relationship management, risk management and operational leadership.
- Johnny Ringold as a reinsurance and claims consultant with almost 20 years of experience, previously with Fidelis and Lancashire.
Forness, added: “Building a collateralized reinsurance specialist for cedents and investors has taken time but is now ready to scale. As an innovator in a new asset class, MultiStrat has successfully solved many challenges, including an initial soft market and low investment yield environment in casualty, continual education needs of investors, new designs for collateral and investments, and, more recently, improved collateral transparency. Our company has a proven track record and is excited for our next chapter.”
Jim Robinson, CEO of MultiStrat’s capital arm, said: “The ILS space is continuing to grow and expand into different risk classes, providing more opportunities for institutional investors looking for total insurance and investment returns through high frequency, low severity business.”
