QBE European Operations has expanded its warranty and indemnity (W&I) team with the appointment of senior underwriter Francisco Castro Yebra (pictured).
Castro Yebra, who will be based in London, will underwrite deals across the UK and Europe. He joins QBE from managing general agent (MGA) ICEN Risk, where he was responsible for placing W&I policies for transactions involving small and medium-sized enterprises as well as larger deals across industries such as real estate, renewables, and technology.
He is qualified as an abogado in Spain, admitted to the Vigo bar, and as a solicitor in England and Wales. Before moving into the insurance sector, he worked for three years in the corporate and M&A department of the law firm Cuatrecasas in Spain.
After earning an LLM in International Business Law from King’s College London, Castro Yebra began working at Lloyd’s in 2021.
This recent expansion comes as mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity increases this year, according to QBE. W&I insurance provides protection against unknown breaches of representations and warranties made by the target or seller in a purchase agreement.
Castro Yebra’s addition is only just a part of this expansion, according to QBE’s global head of transactional liability Toria Lessman, who also revealed an upcoming appointment in Sweden for the Nordics.
QBE’s W&I offering focuses on M&A transactions across sectors such as consumer goods, energy, financial services, healthcare, infrastructure and utilities, media, real estate, retail, and technology.
In the UK, M&A has been off to a subdued start, with only three deals announced in January – the lowest number recorded in a single month since 2017, according to MarshBerry. This follows a record-breaking 2024, in which 152 transactions were completed, narrowly surpassing the 151 deals recorded in 2023.
However, MarshBerry noted that January has not been a slow month for M&A in the sector, with an average of 11 deals announced in the first month of the year since 2016.
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