Winston & Strawn hires ILS experienced lawyer Andruschak

Experienced financial services attorney and former Mayer Brown partner, Keith Andruschak, has joined the Winston & Strawn Corporate Practice as a partner in New York, an appointment that will enhance the firm’s insurance-linked securities (ILS) and reinsurance capabilities.

Andruschak brings more than 20 years of insurance industry advisory and complex transactional experience to the Winston & Straw team, ranging from merger and acquisitions (M&A), insurance, reinsurance, ILS offerings, and beyond.

Winston & Strawn is an international law firm that has offices in North America, Asia, and parts of Europe, with a current focus on growing its transactional capabilities.

“We continue to execute on our strategic plan to expand the breadth and depth of our transactional practice. Keith’s practice further broadens our M&A practice and ability to advise clients, particularly in the insurance and financial services sector,” said chair of Winston & Strawn’s Corporate Department, Dominick DeChiara.

As well as advising clients on complex transactional matters, Andruschak also serves as an advisor to the industry on specialist insurance designs, annuity products, derivatives, and a broad range of alternative risk transfer structures.

2015 saw a wave of M&A activity across the insurance and reinsurance landscape, as companies looked to increase scale and relevance at times of continued market turmoil and widespread financial market volatility.

With many of the same challenges persisting in 2016, the expectation is for further M&A activity across the risk transfer landscape, so the appointment of an attorney that has vast experience advising clients on insurance industry M&A is a smart move.

Furthermore, there’s an expectation across the insurance and reinsurance industry that ILS will continue to broaden its reach and expand its global footprint, so the hiring of someone with experience in these types of offerings (such as catastrophe bonds and other ILS related structures) will also be beneficial as this part of the industry grows.

Andruschak’s client base ranges from property/casualty insurers and reinsurers, domestic and global investment/commercial banks, private equity investors, and also hedge funds, the latter being prominent in the ILS space.

Underlining the increased strengthening of its ILS practice and beyond in recent times, Winston & Strawn’s New York Office Managing Partner, Michael Elkin said; “Keith is the latest in a series of lateral acquisitions that has added substantial depth to our New York-based M&A, capital markets, and finance practices in recent months.”