Charles Philipps says company sees ‘no urgent need’ to join forces with other firms

Charles Philipps Amlin

Amlin is not for sale, chief executive Charles Philipps (pictured) has insisted, despite recent reports that the Lloyd’s insurer would be open to do a deal.

Speaking to journalists following the release of Amlin’s first-half 2015 results this morning, Philipps said: “We’re not for sale. We are not running a sale process.

“I am running a company that has big ambitions and what we are trying to do is deliver our strategy - full stop.”

The market has been abuzz with rumours about who will be bought next after a number of big-name Lloyd’s insurers have been taken over. These include Catlin, which is now owned by global (re)insurer XL, and Brit, which has been bought by Canadian financial services group Fairfax.

Philipps said: “We believe we have an extremely compelling strategy and ability to thrive as a standalone business. Therefore we do not see an urgent need to partner up with anybody else. We are living in an environment where rumours seem to be rife and what we are doing is [following] our own strategy.”

He added that much of the urge to merge had been driven for the desire for scale in the reinsurance business in particular. But he noted that Amlin was a top 20 global reinsurer, even excluding its Leadenhall Capital Partners insurance-linked securities joint venture.