New MGA Devonshire to focus on transactional risk
A new MGA has been launched specialising in underwriting transactional risk and backed by Lloyd’s and a panel of A-rated insurance capacity providers.
Devonshire UW Limited, and its affiliate Devonshire UW Europe GmbH, will underwrite transactions in the UK, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia, South America, Central America, Australasia and elsewhere.
Headquartered in London, the MGA will provide solutions for large legal risk deals for brokers, corporates, private equity firms, professional advisers and other specialist investors. Devonshire’s products comprise warranty & indemnity (W&I), tax and contingency insurance.
The MGA will be led by four experienced founders and partners – Natasha Attray, James Dodd, James Fletcher and Charles Turnham – specialists in this sector with a collective 30 years of transactional liability underwriting experience as well as over 15 years of professional experience in law and tax.
Attray said: “We are incredibly proud to launch Devonshire and believe we will distinguish ourselves through our collective blend of experience and technical expertise with over 30 years of experience in this market. We believe that our proven execution capability and entrepreneurial approach will allow us to offer our clients and brokers an exciting and fresh source of transactional risk solutions.”
The company said it is able to deploy an automatic per-risk line size of up to €35m pursuant to the terms of the delegated authority from its insurance partners. Devonshire has received the backing of B.P. Marsh & Partners, the specialist private equity investor, in early stage financial services business.
Dan Topping, chief investment officer of B.P. Marsh, said: “We are pleased to be making this investment in Devonshire, founded by an experienced team of specialists. We are looking forward to working with the team, to enable Devonshire to deliver on their business plan over the coming years.”
Fletcher added: “There is strong momentum in the transactional risk market as a result of many years of resilient M&A activity and a significant upward trajectory in the use of transactional risk products. We are seeing a clear demand for a fresh approach to underwriting and bespoke service as the transactional risk market and the applications of the products continue to evolve. We have strong relationships with brokers across all major jurisdictions and the team incorporates all of the key professional disciplines required for strong underwriting performance within W&I, tax and contingency.”
