18 September 2013 Insurance

Omega deal enhances scale for Canopius

Canopius’ purchase of Omega has helped to deliver scale, which alongside strong organic growth and an active reduction in attritional losses, has led to a strong 2013 for Canopius.

That is the news from Michael Watson, executive chairman at Canopius, who said that the company’s half year results had been very pleasing. Much of this was down to its increased scale as a result of its successful acquisition of Omega, which has helped to increase premiums under management by 40 percent and helped to company “build stronger and more credible relationships with broking houses”.

Watson admitted that there had been some concern at Canopius that some of the Omega business might be lost as a result of the deal, but said that he was pleased that the company had been able to retain existing client relationships, which has helped to bolster mid-year results.

Gross written premiums increased by 54 percent in 2013, driven by organic growth in other businesses as well as the Omega acquisition.

“It’s not just been about buying topline, said Watson. “We remain very focused as a business on return on equity. Topline is interesting, but that needs to translate into bottom line profit.”

While the catastrophe environment has been relatively benign this year, Canopius also achieved some notable successes in repositioning its portfolio post the Omega acquisition that helped reduce exposure to Midwest US and Canada perils that struck this year, said Watson.

“When the tornadoes came this year we had very limited losses were around $1 million, rather than the $50 million they might have been had those books of business remained unchanged,” he explained.

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