Backed by $1 billion in capital and a broker sponsor, a new Bermuda-based insurer has been formed to write U.S. property-catastrophe risk.
Known as Ironshore Insurance Ltd. Inc., the venture said it raised more than $1 billion through a private placement of its equity securities and it will begin underwriting specialty lines of insurance immediately through its subsidiary, Ironshore Insurance Ltd.
The global specialty insurer was created in response to the crisis conditions in the U.S. property-catastrophe insurance markets.
The founders of Ironshore are Robert Clements and John Clements through their investment vehicle, Tara Partners Fund LLC, and Ironshore management.
Robert Clements is known to the industry for having founded several Bermuda-domiciled insurance and reinsurance companies, including ACE Limited, XL Capital Ltd. and Arch Capital Group Ltd.
Like ACE and XL, Ironshore is being sponsored by a global insurance broker–in this case, New York-based Integro Ltd. (ACE and XL were originally sponsored by Marsh & McLennan.)
Investors are Bear Stearns Merchant Banking, Corporate Partners (a business unit of Lazard Alternative Investments), Fremont Partners, TowerBrook Capital Partners and Greenhill Capital Partners.
Robert V. Deutsch will take on the role of chief executive officer of Ironshore. Mr. Deutsch, who has worked in the insurance industry for 25 years, formerly served as the chief financial officer of Chicago-based CNA, and before that held the same title at Executive Risk.
Leslie J. Rock will serve as Ironshore's president and chief underwriting officer. Mr. Rock has served as chief property underwriter for three of the leading property syndicates at Lloyd's over the past 25 years.
Ironshore's leadership team also includes Mitchell E. Blaser, most recently the CFO of Swiss Re America and Marsh Inc, who has been appointed chief financial officer.
Ironshore will initially write a worldwide book of property business, the company said in a statement today, adding that because of marketplace demands, the company's initial focus will be on commercial risks with wind exposures in catastrophe-prone coastal states such as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas, as well as the Caribbean and Yucatan Peninsula.
Ironshore will also provide commercial earthquake coverage in California.
In a statement, Mr. Deutsch noted that while tens of billions of dollars have flowed into the reinsurance sector since Hurricane Katrina, "to date, permanent, adequate capacity has not been established on the insurance side."
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