Trenwick Managing Agents set to buy out Lloyd's business
The management team of Trenwick Managing Agents (TMA) has reached an agreement with Trenwick Group to acquire its Lloyd's business.
The management buyout (MBO) was led by chief executive officer Michael Watson, and includes the capture of composite Syndicate 839 and life Syndicate 44.
The new business (NewCo) will be majority-owned by private equity fund Englefield Capital.
The management team plans to acquire the business with effect from the 2004 year of account for which the capacity of the two syndicates is expected to be £250m and £3.5m respectively.
Syndicate 839 will focus on:
NewCo chief executive Michael Watson said: "The MBO team is very excited at the prospect of taking the restructured business forward. Our entire staff has worked tirelessly over the past two years to turn the business around.
"We have a strong team of respected underwriters operating in our core areas and underwriting conditions remain excellent. We are highly committed and seek to establish our business as one of the leading Lloyd's franchisees over the next few years."
Earlier this year, TMA's US holding company was downgraded from C to D by ratings agency AM Best.
In February 2003, Trenwick's US stock fell 18.75% after the group revealed losses of $198.1m (£125.7m) for the fourth quarter of 2002.
The losses were seven times greater for the same period in 2001.
Last month, TMA stopped underwriting aviation business in anticipation of lower premium capacity next year.
Syndicate 839's capacity for 2003 stands at £328m, but this is expected to fall to £250m in 2004.
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