HWS Subsidiary Opts Out of JLT Acquisition

Harman Kemp North America Ltd, a subsidiary of HWS Holdings Limited (HWS), said it has chosen not to be involved with the Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) acquisition of HWS, which was announced yesterday.

JLT said yesterday that HWS's reinsurance broking business will be combined with JLT's existing nonmarine treaty operation and will trade as part of JLT Re. JLT also said that two Lloyd's broker subsidiaries of HWS were included as part of its acquisition.

Those subsidiaries are reinsurance broker Harman Wicks & Swayne Limited and Harman Wicks & Swayne International Limited, which is a wholesale provider of small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) insurance products to the UK broker marketplace.

Harman Kemp North America, however, said today that it has chosen to continue to trade as an independent Lloyd's broker servicing its account of binding authorities for U.S. property-casualty business.

Chris Harman, who was deputy chairman of HWS Holdings and is now deputy chairman of JLT Re's reinsurance executive group, said that “Harman Kemp North America have been respected colleagues now since 1991 and have established themselves as one of the preeminent brokers of North American surplus lines business into the Lloyd's market.

“Under the leadership of Paul Pentecost and Peter Slade they have a strong and experienced team that will continue to prosper. We respect their wish to remain independent and are happy to have been able to help them achieve this with the minimum of disruption to the business.”

On JLT's acquisition of HWS, Mr. Harman said, “We are very excited about joining a company with such an excellent reputation as JLT and being part of a larger group. It will give us the increased international reach and greater resources, particularly in the area of modeling and actuarial capabilities, to enhance our ability to offer our client base the advice and service that has always been our hallmark.”

He added that the account handled by HWS “fits extremely well with that of JLT Re, with minimal overlap, and the combined business will create a significant force in the reinsurance market.”