’We believe the business has plenty of headroom for growth in the coming years,’ says divisional managing director
Markel acquired 49% of managing general agent (MGA) Certa as part of plans to expand its presence in the tax insurance sector.
London-based Certa, which specialises in tax and contingent risk insurance, was formed with the support of Markel as one of its original capacity providers.
Markel said it had decided to make a strategic investment into the business to help accelerate the firm’s product development.
And the insurer felt the deal would also give it further access to a “long-term growth opportunity” in the sector, with it already having an in-house tax consultancy.
David Sawyer, divisional managing director of professional and financial risk and cyber at Markel International, said: “Markel has provided capacity to Certa from day one and in a short period of time Certa has become a market-leader in its specialist sector.
”We believe the business has plenty of headroom for growth in the coming years as the tax sector continues to mature.
“We look forward to continuing to work with Certa’s excellent team of tax experts as we play a key role in accelerating growth across the MGA’s operations in 2024 and beyond.”
Geographical expansion
Certa was founded in 2019 by Ed Beckwith, Tom Cartwright, Rachel Hine and Adam Singer.
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The underwriting agency, which has offices in Spain and Germany in addition to its London base, is now backed by 12 capacity providers.
As part of the investment, Markel will help the firm accelerate its geographical expansion plans as it looks to secure more offices.
Beckwith said his firm was ”extremely excited” to have secured investment.
”Markel’s extensive global footprint, coupled with its high-level underwriting and operational expertise, will hugely aid our potential in developing more tax insurance solutions and other products, as well as providing crucial capacity support for our next expansion phase,” he added.
”We can’t wait to start partnering with David and the wider Markel team to accelerate the next stage of Certa’s growth.”
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