Fee and commission income (2003): £3005m.
Pre-tax profit (2003): £31.2m
Address: 55 Bishopsgate,
London EC2N 3BD
Tel: 020 7578 7000
Fax: 020 7578 7001
E-mail: enquiries@benfieldgroup.com
Website: www.benfieldgroup.com
Key milestones:
1973: Establishment of Benfield, Lovick & Rees (BLR) and established
as a Lloyd's broker
1974: Greig Fester formed as a result of merger between Fester Fothergill and Hartung (established 1874) and WT Greig (established 1921)
1988: A team including the late Matthew Harding, John Coleman and Grahame Chilton lead a management buy-out of Benfield, Lovick & Rees to form the Benfield Group
1995: The Benfield Group acquires Lloyd's reinsurance broker Ellinger Heath Western, a specialist in North American and UK non-marine treaty reinsurance.
1997: The Benfield Group merges with Greig Fester to form Benfield Greig Group
2001: Benfield Greig Group merges with EW Blanch (established in 1957) to form Benfield Group
2003: Creation of a single brand identity, represented by the name "Benfield". Benfield lists on the London Stock Exchange.
Main lines of business: Reinsurance broking
Number of UK employees (2003): 855
Chief officer: Grahame Chilton, chief executive, Benfield Group
Biography: Chilton joined Benfield in 1982 from CT Bowring. Over the years, he has traded in non-marine, marine and aviation reinsurance and direct retrocession business. He has been a director since 1986 and was part of the management team that led the buy-out of Benfield in 1988.
Since his appointment as group chief executive in 1996, Benfield has expanded through a combination of organic growth and a number of strategic transactions, including the acquisitions of Greig Fester Group Ltd, Bates Turner Intermediaries LLC and EW Blanch Holdings, Inc. During this time revenue increased from £50m to £300m.
