Former Aspen Re London head launches new MGA Chord Re

Chord Re, a new reinsurance-focused managing general agency (MGA), has been launched by the former head of Aspen Re London Stefan Long, and will begin underwriting on behalf of Neon Syndicate 2468 from January 2018.

Chord Re is a joint venture between Neon, Beat Capital and Chord Re’s management team, who have long-term ambitions to transform the MGA into a fully integrated reinsurance carrier. It has already received the requisite approvals to act as a Lloyd's Coverholder.

The core focus of the business for the first year will be specialty-focused reinsurance lines, including marine and marine composite, property, engineering, aviation & space, terror, nuclear and cyber, the company said.

The MGA, which commenced operations from Nov 06, has appointed Tom Meyer as chief underwriting officer, alongside Chris Schmidt, Ed Wheatley and Marc Brendle. The team will also include two assistant underwriters and will work closely with Neon’s chief underwriting officer and active underwriter Darren Lednor across its portfolio.

John Cavanagh will also join as non-executive chairman upon retirement from Willis Re at the end of 2017.

Long, CEO of Chord Re, commented: "We intend to build a market-leading reinsurance business, differentiated by product expertise, with a balanced portfolio that combines quantitative analysis with experienced judgement to provide clients with innovative tailored solutions. We believe that the knowledge, experience and relationships of the team at Chord Re, aligned to the support of Neon, creates a compelling proposition and we look forward to offering an attractive new source of capacity to the market."

Martin Reith, Neon group chief executive, added: "We are excited about the launch of Chord Re and its world-class underwriting talent. Recent industry losses have resulted in some market dislocation and the team will differentiate itself by offering substantial expertise, leadership and creativity to structure solutions for clients."

"Neon’s momentum continues to build as our platform attracts yet more of the market’s sharpest entrepreneurial minds. Chord Re provides further demonstration of our ambitions to build a high quality underwriting portfolio."

Tom Milligan, chairman of Beat Capital, said: "We are delighted to partner with Neon again in the creation of another exciting business, following the launch of Tarian in 2016."

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