Capsicum Re to be renamed Gallagher Re, in alignment with parent

Reinsurance broker Capsicum Re is to be renamed as Gallagher Re, to bring the company into line with its parent Arthur J. Gallagher  & Co. (AJG).

Arthur J. Gallagher  & Co. (AJG) took 100% ownership of Capsicum Re back in January, to bring the specialty reinsurance broking joint venture that it had established alongside sector veterans Grahame “Chily” Chilton and Rupert Swallow fully into the group.

Now, the final step in that process, is to align the branding, with the reinsurance broker now set to be named Gallagher Re from October 1st 2020.

The move also follows the reorganisation of the reinsurance broking units Executive Committee (ExCo) leadership that occurred in July, as Gallagher looked to prepare the platform for further growth.

Capsicum Re has increased its market footprint to become the 5th largest reinsurance broker in the world, with over 150 employees and offices in the UK, US, Bermuda and South America.

The broker has developed a position in the reinsurance market as an alternative to the larger brokers, also positioning itself  as a capital agnostic broker, with broad access to insurance-linked securities (ILS) backed capacity for its ceding clients.

The company has developed specialisms in certain ILS focused areas of the market including, retrocession, collateralised reinsurance, weather risk transfer, industry loss warrants (ILW’s), parametric products and more.

Capsicum Re launched back in 2013 as a joint venture with Gallagher and its founders and has grown to now place $5.4bn of gross written premium annually into the market.

Simon Matson, CEO of Gallagher’s broking and underwriting operations in the UK, commented on the new alignment, “What this team has achieved in only six years of trading is remarkable, and that is thanks to an amazing group of talented individuals that came together and believed in what Capsicum Re would deliver for clients. With the vision of ultimately becoming a core part of Gallagher’s proposition, that team built a top five global reinsurance broker from the ground up and a blank sheet of paper. And today’s announcement kick-starts the next iteration as we look to realise the magnitude of untapped opportunity that lies ahead for our exceptional reinsurance team that will be Gallagher in name as well as in spirit, with one identity, one plan and one huge shared ambition.”

Rupert Swallow, CEO of Capsicum Re, added, “Everything the team has achieved to date has been done in true partnership with Gallagher. Right from the very beginning, Gallagher’s incubation of and investment in Capsicum Re has enabled us to build out this incredibly talented team where we combine top transactional expertise and entrepreneurial energy with market-leading analytics. It’s now the right time to fully align on brand, draw on the power of Gallagher and take our expertise, capabilities and solutions to every corner of the global Gallagher family and network, and beyond.”

Pat Gallagher, Chairman, President and CEO of Gallagher, also said, “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: what Chily, Rupert and the entire team have created is the best start-up I’ve seen in my 45-year career. A reinsurance broker run by brokers for brokers and one that made client advocacy and innovation its top priority from day one.

“We didn’t hesitate to back the vision and business plan of the founding Capsicum Re team because we knew it was a blueprint for how to create a market-leading reinsurance broker. Their reputation and track record gave us total confidence in their ability to succeed – a confidence that has been repaid many times over. What the team behind Gallagher’s reinsurance business has achieved is almost unbelievable. And now, trading as Gallagher Re, they’re just getting started.”