MDS: Navigating through choppy waters to a brave new world

The evolution of MDS and BrokersLink are closely linked and rooted in the same need to meet the fast-growing international risk and insurance needs of Portuguese clients as well as wider European and international business. MDS was originally formed in 1984 as captive broker of Sonae, the Portuguese telecommunications and retail conglomerate. Over the last 20 years in particular Sonae has expanded at an accelerating rate and MDS followed suit as it sought to meet the risk management needs of its parent group.hideThe group decided to use its captive broker to look after its increasingly complex and international insurance and risk management requirements rather than outsourcing to an established global broker and so MDS embarked upon a rapid expansion path. The first big move for MDS came in 1997 when it expanded its activities in the insurance market beyond the parent group. MDS subsequently became a fully-fledged insurance brokerage willing and able to transact business on behalf of other companies and, because of the size of the Sonae group account, automatically became one of the biggest brokers in Portugal. The group also created a risk management department to offer risk management consulting services to customers. The next big step came in 2000 when the ambitious and well-connected Mr Fonseca joined as CEO. In the same year Sonae Re, the captive reinsurer of Sonae Group, was created and the company also formed a partnership with Lazam, a leading insurance broker in Brazil, to create Lazam-MDS. Portuguese companies such as Sonae were well placed to take advantage of the impressive growth of the Brazilian economy at the start of the 21st century because of the historical, cultural and language links with the old mother country. Portuguese companies have stepped up their expansion efforts in Brazil since the onset of the credit crisis as they faced such poor growth prospects in the domestic and Spanish markets. The deal with Lazam was designed to help MDS clients expand their activities in Brazil. Both Sonae and MDS threw themselves into the Brazilian adventure. But growth was not limited to Brazil. In 2001, Sonae acquired a participation in French broker Firstassur as MDS sought to expand its footprint further into Europe along with its growing third party customer base. Two years later, MDS acquired a participation in Pérouse, the Lyon, France-based broker, to create Pérouse-MDS. In 2004 MDS celebrated its 20th anniversary and announced the creation of BrokersLink—initially a partnership with four like-minded Portuguese, Spanish and French brokers designed to help meet the increasingly international insurance and risk needs of customers. In 2007 MDS made a significant move as it acquired a stake in CooperGay, the leading independent wholesale and reinsurance broker. In 2009 MDS celebrated its 25th anniversary and BrokersLink held its first global conference in Hong Kong, further cementing the Portuguese group’s international credentials. A year later Cooper Gay merged with Swett & Crawford, the leading US wholesale broker, which helped MDS service its European and international customers in the US. In 2011 MDS announced the launch of Herco in Portugal. Herco is a risk-consulting firm initially based in Brazil that provides customers with risk management advice. Two years later Jorge Luzzi, former president of Ferma and risk manager for Pirelli, joined MDS Group as Executive President of Global Herco and Director of HighDome, the Malta-based PCC that is fully owned by MDS Group and delivers a range of risk financing solutions to its clients and the wider market. Last year MDS announced a significant expansion of its African operations as it opened an office in Luanda, Angola. And this year, as the group celebrated its 30th anniversary, it announced the plans to incorporate BrokersLink and offer shares to its members.

MDS: Navigating through choppy waters to a brave new world

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