Last month, Insurance Business UK revealed that Pen Underwriting was in advanced talks for a deal that would see it enter the specialist marine insurance market. Today, the underwriting and distribution giant has announced its acquisition of Tay River Holdings and its wholly owned marine specialist subsidiaries – Vessel Protect, Trafalgar Marine Trades and BMM Ports & Terminals.
The deal, which was made for an undisclosed sum, adds more than £90 million of GWP and a 17-strong team of specialist underwriters in marine liability and trades to Pen.
Established in 2020 by marine underwriters Paul Hartley, James King and Chris Goddard, Tay initially comprised three niche MGAs but has since grown organically into a go-to market for marine business. The Lime Street-based firm underwrites worldwide business and deals exclusively through brokers and specialises in marine trades’ liability, ports & terminals liability, marine war risks and kidnap & ransom.
In a Press release, Pen noted that Tay has recently expanded into maritime professional indemnity, freight and logistics insurance, as well as brown water hull through two new MGAs trading as Freeboard Maritime and Fortify Marine.
Commenting on the acquisition, Tom Downey, CEO of Pen Underwriting, said: “Having identified the specialty marine market as a core area of capability we are keen to add to Pen’s existing breadth of specialisms, the challenge was on to find the right partner.
“In Tay, we have found a high quality underwriting business that shares our focus on writing profitable, sustainable business underpinned by a robust underwriting discipline and excellent capacity management – one that will enhance our ability to underwrite global portfolios of complex, international risks.
Downey noted that the underwriting skill and expertise of Tay’s management team is “exemplary” and has enabled the business to develop real scale at an impressive pace.
“Their entrepreneurial talent and ambition have combined to create a standout marine specialist” he said, “and we are absolutely delighted to be able to welcome Paul, James, Chris and their colleagues into the Pen Underwriting family.”
Meanwhile, founder and MD of Tay, Paul Hartley, gave full credit to the growth, performance and profitability of Tay’s portfolio to the “skills and tenacity” of its specialist underwriting team. Now the business is looking to get to the next level, he said, and Pen’s depth of resources and established ‘virtual insurer’ infrastructure offers the ideal home to continue its story of expansion and diversification in niche areas of the marine market.
“It is exciting to be able to help Pen broaden its capabilities while securing for our people all the benefits and support of becoming part of a larger organisation that still stays true to the agile mindset and client focus of a burgeoning business,” he said. “We look forward to getting to know all our new colleagues and finding ways to deliver even more to our brokers, clients and capacity providers.”
Founder and CEO of Vessel Protect, Chris Goddard, added: “Vessel Protect has quickly established itself as one of the world’s leading markets for marine war insurance and we are incredibly proud of our achievements. In joining Pen, our value proposition to our brokers, their clients and our capacity providers will further increase as we continue to grow and develop our digital offering. One of the key drivers for our success is our unrivalled service levels to our clients and it is clear there is a strong culture within Pen which will allow us to continue focusing on our core values.”
