Manchester Underwriting Acquires Pelican Underwriting from Asta Capital

Manchester Underwriting Management Ltd. (MUM) announced it has acquired Pelican Underwriting One Ltd. from third party managing agent Asta Capital Ltd.

Pelican Underwriting One trades as Pelican Underwriting and specializes in writing solicitors’ professional indemnity (PI) in England and Wales. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Pelican Underwriting was launched in 2015 in partnership with Munich Re Group as its capacity provider. It has been managed and has also received financial backing from Asta Capital since its start.

Chesham, England-based MUM is a specialist MGA operating internationally and in the UK. While it has focused on UK PI and directors & officers’ business, in 2017, it launched its property-owners product followed by casualty and cyber lines. MUM shares Pelican’s close relationship with Munich Re, whose subsidiary Great Lakes Insurance will continue to support Pelican with capacity.

“Solicitors’ PI is a challenging area, and, in my opinion, there is nobody better at it than Pelican Underwriting,” said Charles Manchester, CEO of MUM. “We already have a major position in the UK and international PI market and Pelican will be accretive to that, fitting perfectly into the group as MUM, too, focuses on top quality service and underwriting.”

“We are pleased that the sale of our successful MGA, Pelican Underwriting, to MUM has completed,” said Julian Tighe, chief executive of Asta. “This is our first sale of a MGA since we started our MGA management business in 2015 and demonstrates Asta’s ability to develop start up underwriting entities across the insurance spectrum and see them through the lifecycle to next phase of their business life.”

“Whilst it is business as usual at Pelican Underwriting, I am hugely excited to be joining the MUM team and am thoroughly looking forward to working in an environment where Pelican can grow and continue to focus on offering the specialist services our clients need,” commented Jay Bowey, director of Pelican.

Source: Manchester Underwriting Management

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Underwriting Insurance Wholesale