S&P Global Market Intelligence offers our top picks of insurance news stories and more published throughout the week.
M&A talk
* Scor SE's portfolio management company, SCOR Investment Partners SE, completed its acquisition of Coriolis Capital Ltd., a U.K. fund manager specializing in insurance-linked securities, following receipt of all approvals for the deal.
* Charles Taylor PLC and The Standard Club Ltd. disclosed the sale of Charles Taylor Managing Agency to a subsidiary of Bermuda-based Premia Holdings Ltd. for an undisclosed sum. The sale also involves Charles Taylor Managing Agency's associated companies, including The Standard Syndicate Services Ltd. and The Standard Syndicate Services Asia Pte. Ltd., as well as the Lloyd's of London corporate names.
* Markel UK, a division of Markel International, will acquire U.K.-based insurance broker Caunce O'Hara's online freelancer and contractor insurance business, subject to regulatory approval.
* Clear Insurance Management Ltd. acquired Warwickshire, U.K.-based insurance broker Morrison Insurance Solutions.
Restructuring
* British insurance broker Hyperion Insurance Group Ltd. is merging its retail and specialist broking businesses, Howden and RKH, under one management team led by José Manuel González as CEO, effective Oct. 1.
* RSA U.K. and International combined its commercial risk solutions and global risk solutions businesses to create a single business unit focused on commercial lines.
Industry news
* Catastrophe insurance data provider PERILS AG lowered its insured property market loss estimate for extratropical cyclone Dragi-Eberhard to €772 million from its prior estimate of €798 million. Dragi-Eberhard affected the British Isles and Western and Central Europe on March 9 and 10, with the majority of the losses in Belgium, France and Germany.
Executive moves
* Aegon NV unit Aegon UK named Mike Holliday-Williams CEO replacing Adrian Grace, who will retire March 31, 2020. Holliday-Williams will join the Aegon UK on Oct. 1, subject to regulatory approvals.
* Bermuda-based Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd. named Clive Edwards CEO of subsidiaries Aspen Insurance UK Ltd. and Aspen Managing Agency Ltd., subject to regulatory approval.
In other news
* Rothesay Life PLC will raise at least £500 million in new equity capital from its backers as it looks to make headway in the bulk annuities market. The company disclosed in a trading update that it is working on "several significant bulk annuity transactions" that could lead to it writing more than £10 billion of business for the year and boosting AUM to more than £50 billion.
* Bermuda-based Nephila Capital Ltd. expects to launch its own Lloyd's of London managing agency, Nephila Syndicate Management Ltd., on Oct. 11, having received regulatory approval to establish the entity.
Featured during the week on S&P Global Market Intelligence
Cat bond investors review strategies after 2 years of losses: Investors are switching managers and re-examining the benefits of investing in insurance risk, but have not fled the asset class, say insurance-linked securities specialists.
Cyber insurance-linked securities will come 'sooner than later': Aon Securities CEO Paul Schultz said the evolution of cyber ILS will mirror that of property catastrophe bonds. "We'll find a place ... where there is a client need and not enough supply of capacity, and we'll use that to learn and to grow."
Scor plans to expand capacity with external investor-backed balance sheet: The French reinsurer wants to work more closely with Scor Global Investments to tap investors as it looks to grow its offering to insurers, particularly in the U.S.
