Applied Underwriters has announced that it will acquire Concept Special Risks, a UK-based international MGA that provides coverage for an extensive variety of nautical vessels and operators worldwide.
Founded in 1999 by Tony Usher, Yorkshire-headquartered Concept Special Risks is a licensed Lloyd’s coverholder and holds a dominant market position in the US and Caribbean markets for motor yachts, trailer craft, sailboats, and catamarans. The company covers both private/pleasure craft and charter craft.
The acquisition is the latest in a series of specialty-market moves Applied has made as part of its long-term growth strategy in niche segments. Since November, the company has acquired, recreated and introduced: Applied Specialty Underwriters to focus on select casualty E&S risks across the country, with an initial focus on large construction in New York; Applied Financial Lines to provide a variety of D&O coverages in the US, Europe and Israel following its acquisition of StarStone’s financial lines book; and Applied Fine Art & Collectibles to provide coverage and risk management for fine art, jewelry, collectibles, and collector automobiles.
“We are finding heightened demand among our growing customer base in the private clientele sector for thoroughly knowledgeable, truly experienced, and acutely specialized underwriting,” said Steve Menzies, chairman of Applied Underwriters. “We are answering that demand with an assembly of top talent in important market classes, of which the latest is Concept Special Risks and its exceptional 20-member team created and developed by Tony Usher over the past 20 years. We welcome these fine professionals to the Applied family in the service of our growing clientele.”
“Together with my staff here in Yorkshire, we see immense opportunity in this consolidation with Applied, its remarkable marketing strength and its depth of focus in specialized sectors,” Usher said. “Our plans will be finalized this quarter once the FCA issues its approval, and we will be ready for the coming season for yachts, recreational vessels of all types and for commercial excursion operators.”
Concept Special Risks will continue to write business through retail agents in the US and the Caribbean.
