With a combined three decades of experience in transactional liability underwriting, and a further 15-plus years of expertise in law and tax, the founders of Devonshire Underwriting (Devonshire) are chartering familiar waters.
Discussing the newly formed MGA’s plan to “positively disrupt” the transactional risk insurance market, co-founders Natasha Attray, James Dodd, James Fletcher, and Charles Turnham noted that its launch was a natural progression of how they have worked well together in the past.
“This is a move born of all of our ambition to deliver a first-class proposition to the market in terms of service level, execution, reliability and creativity of appetite,” Turnham (pictured centre, left) said. “We’re not promising to underwrite every risk that comes across our desk but we do feel that the combination of our experience and [the agility] of our team means that we’ll be able to make decisions quickly, and become a reliable and sophisticated partner for our brokers and clients.”
As to what Devonshire is looking to bring to the market, he emphasised that the MGA is not looking for volume share for volume share’s sake but rather to offer the market something different. Devonshire has a broad appetite on the warranty & indemnity (W&I) side, he said, where its twin areas of focus are on mid-to-large cap deals and emerging market deals, but it is also proud to offer tax and contingency insurance products, backed by proven practitioners.
It's an interesting time to be in the market, said James Dodd (pictured centre, right), particularly given the slowdown in global M&A transactions over the last year due to a variety of macroeconomic factors. From conversations with brokers, investment bankers and those in the private equity world, he said, the market seems to be seeing some “green shoots of recovery”, with sellers increasingly making moves to kickstart the sales process again.
“Particularly among private equity houses, there’s quite a few that have quite a lot of money on their hands because they’ve not been able to invest it over the past couple of years,” he said. “Also as part of the private equity lifecycle, I think people want to sell on some of their investments in order to return capital to their investors.
“So, I think there is this pent-up demand and we are starting to see shoots of recovery there. Whether that will translate into deals, it’s probably still a bit too early to see but we are starting to see those sell-side processes being initiated, which is normally what we would see before those deals start up again. So, we’re hopeful about where the market is going.”
In the context of this environment, Devonshire sees a real opportunity to add value, Dodd said, because as with everything around M&A, these sell-side processes often operate on very tight timelines. The MGA’s agile structure means it can respond to clients’ needs very quickly, and reduce the friction of deal to make the process efficient for everyone involved.
Devonshire is especially well-placed to support the market given the breadth of global expertise and experience across the team. The MGA is poised to underwrite transactions on a global scale, he said, because the team have been involved in deals in the UK, Europe and across multiple emerging markets including in Africa and South America.
“Wherever these deals are going to come up, we are positioned to take advantage through our broad expertise and experience,” he said. “So, I think we’re very well-placed to take advantage of the resurgence in M&A around the world, wherever that starts.”
In addition, the structure of Devonshire ensures that it’s not reliant on market conditions always moving in a favourable direction, noted Natasha Attray (pictured right), particularly as the firm’s tax and contingency products are often not driven out of an M&A process. So, in situations where there is a slight downturn in M&A, she said, those products act as something of a buffer, protecting the long-term sustainability of its business model.
Reflecting on the response received from the broker market to date regarding the launch of Devonshire, Dodd said it has been great to reconnect with a lot of familiar faces. The feedback so far has been fantastic, he said, and everyone has been very supportive of what Devonshire is looking to do. Continuing to connect and reconnect with the market is high on the Devonshire agenda, as is building the market’s trust in the business, its expertise and its products.
Attray and Fletcher (pictured left) echoed his sentiments, highlighting that carving the right path and taking the right steps to ensure Devonshire is primed for growth and success in 2024 is key.
“This is a relationship business,” Fletcher said. “So, for us, it’s all getting back out to the market and waving the Devonshire flag… It’s about promoting the Devonshire service and demonstrating to people why it’s new and exciting and what new things we’re looking to bring to the table in addition to what people remember us for – our expertise, reliability and execution.”
Devonshire’s ambition is to bring new and competitive products to the market, he said, which is especially timely as the market has become more open to embracing new ideas amid current conditions. Core to the MGA’s growth strategy is laying the right foundations for long-term success, according to Turnham – and the cornerstone of doing that is building on the trust that the team has already fostered across the market.
“We’re looking to be a long-term partner for our brokers and clients,” he said. “For us, that means bringing in our very clear, transparent and straightforward approach, and our expertise. So, our early transactions and projects will be absolutely crucial to us in terms of establishing our long-term agenda.”
