Profiles
19. COOPER GAY & CO
FURNESS HOUSE
52 LEADENHALL STREET
LONDON EC3A 2EB
TEL: 020 7480 7322
FAX: 020 7481 4695
EMAIL: COGLONDON@COOPERGAY.COM
WEBSITE: WWW.COOPERGAY.COM + WWW.COOPERGAY.COM
FEE AND COMMISSION INCOME (2004): £47.34m
PRE-TAX PROFIT: £8.53m
NUMBER OF UK EMPLOYEES: 228
NUMBER OF UK BRANCHES: 2
CHIEF OFFICER: TOBY ESSER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE
MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS
All shares are owned by the working directors
MAIN LINES OF BUSINESS
Marine and non-marine insurance and reinsurance
SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES
Cooper Gay & Co, Cooper Gay Steele & Co, Cooper Gay (Asia) Pte, Brokers Inc, Cooper Gay (Australia) Pty, Cooper Gay (Hong Kong), Cooper Gay (North America) Inc, Cooper Gay (France) SAS, Cooper Gay Martinez del Rio SA De CV, Creechurch International Underwriters, Cooper Gay Peru SA, Cooper Gay Colombia, Cooper Gay Ecuador CA, Cooper Gay Energy Latin America SA, Junge & Co, Versicherungsmakler GmbH, Gunther Lubsen GmbH, Cooper Gay (Belarus), Cooper Gay (Russia), Cooper Gay do Brasil, Saint Vincent Insurance Services, Carib Insurance Agency, Grensure Fire & General Insurance Company.
CHIEF OFFICER BIOGRAPHY
Toby Esser is the chief executive of Cooper Gay Holdings, one of the largest privately-owned composite insurance and reinsurance brokers headquartered in London. He is responsible for group operations worldwide through its 23 subsidiary companies.
With 18 years' experience in global insurance and reinsurance, Esser's career started in 1984 when he joined Cooper Gay & Co, the Lloyd's broker, which is now the principal trading subsidiary of the Cooper Gay Group.
Transferred to New York in 1988, he was instrumental in setting up Cooper Gay Steele, a licensed reinsurance intermediary, which handles all classes of reinsurance, particularly specialising in large industrial property risks.
Returning to London in 1992, Esser was closely involved in the rapid growth of the non-marine division of the Lloyd's broker and the strategic development of further overseas subsidiaries, including offices in Singapore, Canada and Mexico.
Appointed managing director in 1997, Esser has increasingly focused on the development of the core reinsurance arm of the group's operations and continued strategic expansion of the group's overseas subsidiaries.
2001 saw the establishment of offices in Australia, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru.
On 31 May 2001 Esser assumed the role of group chief executive, following the retirement of Michael Jones as chairman.
