Nephila-supported Blenheim launches Lloyd’s managing agency

Blenheim Underwriting, the Lloyd’s focused insurance and reinsurance underwriter that counts insurance-linked securities (ILS) specialist Nephila Capital as a key backer, has now officially launched its own managing agency.

The company has been planning to take greater control of its underwriting platform and infrastructure for more than a year, having received approval in principal for the launch of its own managing agency back in March 2020.

Owning and operating its own managing agency means that Blenheim Underwriting has greater control of its own destiny and can better manage its client relationships, both in terms of cedents and its broad-range of capital providers.

On the capital providers side, when Blenheim launched its syndicate 5886 at Lloyd’s in 2016, Director Peter Scales told us that Nephila Capital would be, “the largest single contributor to a syndicate stamp that is comprised entirely of third party capital ranging from traditional Lloyd’s names to sophisticated ILS funds.”

Blenheim is a 100% owned subsidiary of White Bear Capital, a company that is majority owned by its staff but also counts Nephila Holdings Limited as a minority investor.

Blenheim writes insurance and reinsurance across a range of business lines at Lloyd’s, including property treaty reinsurance, D&F property, specialty reinsurance, contingency and accident & health.

The flagship Blenheim Syndicate 5886 has a stamp capacity of £325 million for 2021, up from £250 million for 2020, and this has been sourced from third party capital providers, ranging from private individuals to ILS funds and other trade risk capital providers.

Blenheim Underwriting Limited will now act as a managing agency in respect of Syndicate 5886.

This responsibility was transferred from previous manager Asta to Blenheim on 6th August 2021.

Peter Scales, CEO of White Bear Capital and director of Blenheim, commented, “This is a significant milestone for the group that the team has worked hard to achieve. We would like to thank Asta for acting as our managing agent in the syndicate’s formative years and we look forward to the future as an independent business.”

Now with its own managing agency, Blenheim will be able to benefit much more from ongoing expansion of its capacity through new third-party capital providers, which could include more capital sourced from the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market.

It also adds greater efficiency to Blenheim’s operations, a key trait for any underwriter at Lloyd’s these days.