Another brick in the Inigo wall – we acquire StarStone Managing Agency and Syndicate 1301 from Enstar

Inigo Limited (“Inigo”), the new Lloyd’s re/insurance group has acquired StarStone Underwriting Limited, the Lloyd’s managing agency and the rights to operate Lloyd’s syndicate 1301 from Enstar. The completion of the transaction is also marked by the PRA issuing change of control approval, thereby cementing the final part of the process in the creation of Inigo.

Inigo was launched in November 2020 with a successful capital raising of $800 million from a consortium of global investors and was approved by Lloyd’s to start underwriting on the syndicate 1301 platform from January 2021. Since then, the group has been quick to capitalise on market conditions, setting a stamp capacity of $400m. The book will be split equally across both insurance and reinsurance.

To support this activity the new year has been busy with new hires and the company already has 40 employees. New hires in the most senior roles have included:

• Stephen Agutter has joined as Head of Claims following 29 years at AIG, most recently as its international head of claims.
• Nick Lazarus, Damien Smith and Adam Alvarez have joined as reinsurance underwriters bringing experience across property and specialty to the team.
• Craig Knightley has joined as Head of Financial Lines and Casualty from Hiscox where he had been for eight years, including roles as a Divisional Director and CFO. He is supported by Ed Whitworth, who has joined as a D&O underwriter from Hiscox, and Tom Ielapi, also a D&O underwriter from Beazley.
• Yera Patel takes up the mantel of Head of Casualty & Financial Lines Claims and Analytics, having joined following three years at AXA XL as head of the financial lines claims practice.
• Matthew Rolph has started as Head of Distribution, joining after nearly seven years at Hiscox, where he was most recently Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Special Risks and prior to that Head of Group Distribution and Broker Relationships.
• Sandy Warne has joined to lead Inigo’s terrorism and political violence book from Navigators, where she was International Head of Political Risk and brings nearly twenty years of experience to the role.
• James Power is leading Marine and Energy, building on his experience at AXA XL, Catlin and Marsh.
• Karen Graves joins as COO having spent nine years as COO of Scor in London and Alice Kaye, joins as Chief of Staff having worked for Everest Re for four-and-a-half years as a casualty treaty underwriter, also based in London.

Commenting on the progress in the first quarter, Richard Watson, CEO of Inigo said, “We are delighted with the start we have made. The support by clients and brokers has been tremendous and we feel very lucky to have the opportunity to be building a business with such strong, and experienced capital behind us. The capacity we bring has allowed our customers to trade forward with confidence, knowing their risks are being covered. 

At a personal level, the best part is bringing together some incredibly talented and driven people; finding and taking risk on younger talent; and creating a culture we can all share. Our plan remains to grow in our chosen areas, focusing on those lines where we can underwrite well and where our capacity is valued.