Peak Re launches Peak Capital ILS manager, as Lutece acquisition completes

Peak Re said this morning that its previously announced acquisition of Bermuda-based insurance-linked securities (ILS) asset manager Lutece has now completed and the unit is being rebranded as Peak Capital.

Lutece founder Erik Manning and Peak Re’s Managing Director of Underwriting, Lawrence Cheng, are to lead the new unit as the Co-CEOs of Peak Capital.

Peak Reinsurance Company Limited (Peak Re), the Hong Kong headquartered global reinsurer that is majority backed by Fosun International, announced a few weeks ago that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the retrocession focused ILS manager Lutece Holdings Ltd.

Lutece had originally been launched in 2017 by Erik Manning, the experienced ILS broking and structuring specialist who had worked at Aon Benfield, as well as Angus Ayliffe, who was previously the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at reinsurance firm Ariel Re in Bermuda.

Lutece launched with a flagship retrocession investment strategy for 1/1 2018 and built out a team to support its expanding underwriting and investment management operations in Bermuda, with a retrocessional reinsurance focus.

Lutece then won backing from and was acquired by Latin America focused asset manager BTG Pactual Asset Management in late 2018.

Now, Peak Re has acquired 100% of the capital of Lutece Holdings Ltd. and its subsidiary Lutece Investment Management Ltd. and the resulting insurance-linked securities (ILS) management entity of the group has been renamed as Peak Capital Ltd.

Led by Manning and Cheng, Peak Capital has a ready made team with Angus Ayliffe and Julia Henderson remaining with the firm in their roles of Chief Financial Officer and Chief Underwriting Officer, respectively, of Peak Capital.

“This is a team of top-tier professionals with strong ILS and structuring expertise, combined with in-depth insights into the Asian markets,” explained Peak Re CEO Franz Josef Hahn.

“Under the leadership of Erik and Lawrence, Peak Capital will create new opportunities to develop differentiated and innovative (re)insurance products to both our customers and investors, and eventually expedite Peak Re’s mission to closing the protection gap in Asia,” Hahn said.

Hahn told us in an interview just after the acquisition of Lutece was announced that the company aims to become the Asian leader in insurance-linked securities (ILS) with the launch of Peak Capital, while also benefiting from a new foothold in the Bermuda market.

Peak Re had been exploring the expansion of its insurance-linked securities (ILS) strategy for some time.

The reinsurer launched the Lion Rock collateralised reinsurance sidecar vehicle in 2018 and this structure was upsized on in 2019.

The company sees the launch of Peak Capital Ltd. as an initiative to “enhance Peak Re’s capabilities and expand its ILS product suite.”