Lancashire unveils Kinesis Capital Management

Lancashire Holdings has revealed more details about its recently formed Lancashire Capital Management division. It will focus on managing third-party capital to be deployed in Lancashire’s underwriting and expects to be using capital by the January 1 2014 renewals.

In a statement covering its second quarter earnings, the company said the division has been named Kinesis Capital Management and that encouraging discussions are taking place with both investors and clients.

Richard Brindle, CEO, of Lancashire, said the entity is still in its research and development phase but said that he was optimistic that the unit would find an edge in what is a very competitive market.

Elaine Whelan, Group CFO at Lancashire, said that Kinesis Capital Management and a Bermuda domiciled special purpose insurer Kinesis Reinsurance I (Kinesis Re) were both established in the second quarter on Bermuda. Darren Redhead, who Lancashire hired in March, will serve as CEO of Kinesis Capital Management. Mathieu Marsan, an experienced actuary and risk modeller, will also work in the unit.

Whelan said that third-party investors will invest in segregated accounts in Kinesis Re, giving them access to specific underwriting opportunities. It expects to begin deploying capital by the January 1 2014 renewals. Goldman Sachs has been engaged as the placement agent.

“We are having encouraging discussions with both investors and clients,” said Brindle. “We won’t have much to report until this phase has concluded but we believe our combination of non-elemental lines expertise and data and elemental optimisation skills will give Kinesis an edge in a competitive market.”