Former Liberty Syndicate bosses, Sean Dalton and Andrew Elliot, are poised to make a return to the market following their departure from the Lloyd's insurer seven months ago.
Dalton, who was formerly managing director of Liberty Syndicates, and Elliot, who was managing underwriter, will head up the new Lloyd's syndicate backed by members' agent Hampden Agency, as reported by Insurance Times (News, 8 February).
Dalton will become chief executive of specialty lines business Leinster Syndicate 4882, with Elliot acting as active underwriter and Joe Battle, formerly of Axis, responsible for underwriting marine and energy business.
Syndicate 4882 will underwrite a mix of mostly short-tail specialty business with a direct and facultative US property book focusing on Fortune1000-type companies.
It will also have a worldwide reinsurance book including property, aviation, marine and energy business, and a marine and specialty book including offshore energy, marine hull and liability.
The syndicate will have an initial capacity of £180m rising to £254m for 2008. It is being set up by Adrian Ryan, Leinster Group chairman, who, together with John Charman, left Ace in 2001 to establish Axis Capital Holdings.
Lloyd's Names are being invited to participate in the syndicate, which is expected to begin trading from 1 April 2007, subject to Lloyd's approval and successful capital raising.
Meanwhile, plans to set up a new reinsurance sidecar at Lloyd's have been abandoned by Hampden.
As reported by Insurance Times (News, 8 February), Hampden was close to securing third party capital for the special purpose vehicle, but it is thought it struggled to gain enough interest.
