Following swirling rumours last week that Gibraltan insurer Markerstudy is exploring a sale, the firm’s group commercial director Martyn Holman spoke to Insurance Business about the news.
“I think the truth of the situation is that we are certainly looking at the way in which the business is financed but that’s more… from a position that Markerstudy has always been known as a business that acquires and is growing. And to be perfectly honest, that’s not changed, that’s where we want to be,” Holman said in an interview.
While the insurer is officially not commenting on the rumours, Holman said that a number of them are “way off beam.”
“The reality of the situation is that because of the pressures of Solvency II on the insurer side of things, anyone who owns an insurance vehicle that hasn’t got huge corporate backing behind them has come under pressure,” he said.
That pressure has left many Gibraltan insurers in the same position, Holman explained, and Markerstudy is “certainly no different to anybody else in that scenario.”
However the company’s focus is on getting back on the acquisition trail and expanding, he said.
“We are looking at the whole financial structure of the business primarily to get ourselves into the situation where we can move forward, and that’s it,” he said. “This is really about us being able to have the resources to actually kick off, and that’s really where we are.”
The insurer last week announced that it is launching a new MGA, Guild Business Insurance, to provide broker partners with added value in the commercial lines market.
The launch comes after Markerstudy acquired Chaucer Insurance’s UK SME business in 2015, a move which left the insurer with a significant bulk of SME business which Holman said sits outside of the Markerstudy normal footprint.
The MGA, which will use A-rated capacity, is currently in the regulatory process but is expected to launch in September.
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