Qatar Insurance Company (QIC) has acquired Gibraltar-based insurer Markerstudy Group through its reinsurance arm Qatar Re, subject to regulatory approvals.
The acquisition of Markerstudy, which underwrites more than 5% of the U.K. motor insurance market, generating annual premiums of about £750 million, significantly expands the firm’s UK profile, in line with the firm’s ambitious expansion plans.
Khalifa Abdulla Turki Al Subaey, Group President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of QIC Group commented; “this is the vision our Board of Directors formulated back in 2011 when QIC Group’s non-MENA business represented just 20% of our total portfolio.
“Meanwhile, we have successfully repositioned Qatar Re as a global player and Antares as our Lloyd’s specialty platform. Including the Markerstudy companies, the share of QIC Group’s non-MENA business will soon exceed 80%.”
“The main strategic attraction of this unique deal is the addition of a sizeable lower volatility book of U.K. motor insurance business with predictable and long-term profitability.
“Moreover, through our subsidiaries Qatar Re and Antares, we are well positioned to benefit from any cyclical upturn in global specialty and other non-motor (re)insurance markets. And, finally, the Markerstudy transaction will enable QIC Group to continue writing U.K. business under any post-Brexit scenario.”
QIC said the acquisition adds carefully managed exposure to the U.K. motor market – lower-volatility business that balances Qatar Re’s more volatile reinsurance lines.
As part of the transaction, QIC Group and Markerstudy will enter into a long-term agreement under which Markerstudy’s underwriting agencies in the U.K. will continue to exclusively write the existing business into the Gibraltar-based insurance companies as well as potentially develop new products.
