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US-headquartered brokerage Acrisure has forayed into Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) by acquiring the region’s biggest insurance distribution platform, Unilink Group, for an undisclosed sum.

Placing nearly seven million policies per year, Unilink Group provides non-life and life products through a network of 15,000 external agents and 2,500 points of sale. It employs more than 1,300 people across Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Czechia, Slovakia, and Moldova.

“Bringing the Acrisure brand to a new part of the world is an exciting proposition,” said Unilink Group chief executive Igor Rusinowski, who will remain at the helm.

Aligned ambitions

“In the last several years we transformed Unilink Group from insurance distribution market leader in Poland to the largest player in CEE, spearheading the segment in six countries and operating through all distribution channels. In that regard, we’re very aligned with Acrisure’s commitment to growth, innovation, and entrepreneurship.”

Echoing Rusinowski’s sentiments, Acrisure co-founder, chair, and CEO Greg Williams cited the strong CEE presence that will be provided by the acquired group.

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Cyber insurer Cowbell has appointed industry expert Simon Hughes (pictured) as general manager for its newly launched UK operations. This new branch is part of the San Francisco-based insurer’s further extension of its global focus; Cowbell also recently opened a new technology centre in Pune, India for further innovation.

Hughes’ 13-year career in the industry last saw him as cyber team lead for CFC Underwriting, where he worked for the past six years. Before this, he worked at SOVAG, the multinational reinsurer. He began his insurance career at Lloyd’s of London. Hughes has focused on SMEs in his career, which is the target market for Cowbell as a cyber insurance provider for this demographic.

According to his LinkedIn, Hughes graduated as a bachelor of arts in modern history and politics from the Royal Holloway, University of London.

Cowbell chief strategy officer Matthew Jones said that Hughes’ appointment is testament to the insurer’s mission of closing the insurability gap and making cyber insurance accessible to all businesses.

“Simon brings the expertise to roll out to the UK the adaptive cyber insurance products that we have successfully validated in the U.S., underpinned by our continuous risk assessment approach,” Jones said.

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Arch Insurance International has promoted its senior underwriter Jason Page (pictured below) to the position of head of marine hull and war effective immediately. Page succeeds Mark Watters, who is retiring.

As Arch Insurance International’s new head of marine hull and war, Page will be responsible for the company’s underwriting activities across the globe, overseeing the underwriting for various sectors such as ship-owners of blue and brown water tonnage, construction and repair yards, marine war, and yachts. He will be based in Arch Insurance International’s London office and report to its head of marine and energy, Jake Gibbs.

Prior to joining Arch Insurance, Page was a senior underwriter and head of marine and war at marine insurance leader Markel, where he worked for roughly two decades. Page joined Arch Insurance in 2020 and was most recently a senior writer within the company’s marine hull and war team.

INSERT PHOTO OF ARCH INSURANCE INTERNATIONAL MARINE HEAD – JASON PAGE

Gibbs described Page’s promotion as “very much a natural transition” within the company.

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In a Press release, the reinsurer stressed that it is sticking to its ambitious climate targets, including the reduction of GHG emissions related to its investment portfolio by 29% by the end of 2025, and thereafter successively brought down to net zero by 2050.

In addition, Munich Re noted its ambition to reduce its climate-related industry exposure to the exploration and production of oil and natural gas (primary insurance, direct and facultative reinsurance) in such a way that there will be no associated net GHG emissions by 2050. The reinsurer’s first step will be to aim to reduce emissions by 5% by 2025.

As of April 2023, Munich Re has stated that it will not insure projects involving new oil and gas fields or new midstream oil infrastructure. At the same time, it will reduce thermal-coal-related exposure in its direct and facultative insurance business by 35% Group-wide by 2025 – before eliminating this exposure altogether by 2040. The reinsurer also noted that since 2018, it has stopped insuring new coal-fired plants, coal mines and since, 2019 oil sand mines.

Meanwhile, regarding the emissions from its own operations, Munich Re highlighted that it has been carbon-neutral since 2015 and previously reduced CO2 emissions per employee by 44% from 2009 to 2019. Current GHG emissions are to be reduced by a further 12% per employee by 2025. By 2030, Munich Re expects to achieve net-zero GHG emissions in its operations.

“Our climate commitment is unwavering,” Wenning said. “We follow scientific recommendations. To date we are decarbonizing even faster than what is required to reach net zero by 2050.”

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Run in collaboration with the M&A Research Centre at The Bayes Business School, the survey said the positive performance of Q1 was driven by Asia-Pacific deal activity, where buyers outperformed their regional index by 13.8 percentage points. The Asia-Pacific region saw 43 deals closed in the first quarter, a 7% drop in volume from Q1 2022.

There was a significant slowdown in M&A activity globally, posting the lowest first-quarter figures since 2015 with 157 deals completed worldwide in Q1 2023, compared to 220 deals in Q1 2022 and 202 deals in Q4 2022, WTW reported.

North American acquirers underperformed their regional index by -3.9 percentage points with only 79 deals closed in Q1, a 32% drop from Q1 2022. Dealmakers in Europe underperformed their index by -7.4 percentage points with 30 deals completed in the first quarter, 39% down from Q1 2022. UK buyers underperformed by 1.4 percentage points.

“The sharp decline in M&A deals completing this quarter is the inevitable hangover effect following an outstanding year in 2021, compounded by the macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds that bruised the market last year,” said Jana Mercereau, head of corporate M&A consulting, Great Britain, at WTW. “At the same time, M&A markets are far from closed. The number of deals we’re seeing in the pipeline has not dropped at all, but many have made slower progress towards completion, or have paused, as buyers adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach. Dealmakers remain fairly bullish and believe M&A activity will increase in the second half of 2023 as markets stabilise and interest rates level.”

Cross-sector deals flourish

The need to adopt new technologies and talent, reach new markets, and overhaul supply chains has spurred cross-sector deals to their highest level since WTW’s M&A survey began in 2008.

The survey also found that the median time to close deals in the first quarter was the slowest since 2008, with 71% of deals taking at least 70 days to complete, up from 53% less than 18 months ago. This trend is directly linked to the rise in cross-sector acquisitions, which generally take more time to close, as well as a greater need for more robust due diligence.

“There are tremendous opportunities to explore for acquiring companies, especially corporates and PE funds with high levels of capital,” Mercereau said. “Some sectors that have been resilient or benefitted from the pandemic, such as technology or healthcare, may continue to see strong demand. The banking industry is also expected to see significant consolidation, while the technology, media and telecom (TMT) sector has never been hotter.

“For buyers pursuing deals in the current uncertain economic climate, it will be more important than ever to conduct disciplined due diligence and dive deeper into potential weaknesses in a target,” she said. “Retaining and integrating new employees after a deal closes will also be critical for the acquisition to deliver value, especially if the objective is to boost talent by acqui-hiring. This means well-crafted retention incentives must be a top priority, especially in today’s tight labour market.”

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International brokerage Gallagher will officially open in Sweden following the integration and rebrand of its three acquired local businesses – Brim, Nordic, and Proinova – starting April 3. With this, Gallagher expands its network comprising more than 130 countries to Sweden and establishes a major foothold in Scandinavia.

Gallagher’s three businesses in Sweden are:

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Motor insurance complaints topped the list of general insurance (GI) grievances in the UK in a period spanning the last five years. Research from Insurance DataLab found that car/motorcycle insurance accounts for one third of all GI complaints referred to the ombudsman from 2017 to 2022.

Out of almost 170,000 complaints lodged at the GI market, 55,250 were levied towards the motor insurance sector. Grievances toward the sector were also trending upward, as the Financial Ombudsman Service recorded 3,800 motor complaints in the final three months of 2022, a 49% year-on-year increase.

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Genasys Technologies has announced an expansion with two business units in South Africa, with one focused on continued product development and innovation.

Genasys London will continue to be led by group CEO André Symes (pictured right). Symes will head the insurance administration platform provider’s commercial growth strategy. Craig Olivier (pictured left), co-founder and group CTO, will be based at Genasys’ new South African headquarters in Cape Town, called the Product and Innovation Campus. Olivier will lead the new Genasys Software Solutions division from this office.

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Lloyd’s global (re)insurer MS Amlin has appointed Dr Jessica Turner as its new head of risk analytics, effective June 26. Turner will report to director of underwriting performance Martin Burke.

In a press release, Burke said that Turner’s appointment reflects the firm’s objectives of “seeking out new perspectives and expertise.”

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AXA Retail has confirmed an extension of home insurance coverage for brokers’ clients who have policies underwritten by the UK insurer and are currently sheltering Ukrainian refugees.

This means that clients’ guests escaping the war in Ukraine will be treated as their extended family, giving them coverage just like any other member of the family residing in their homes.

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