Growing Hudson hires former Aeolus executive

Asset manager Hudson Structured Capital Management (HSCM) has hired Simon Fascione, who previously held senior roles in Bermuda fund manager Aeolus and Lancashire Underwriting, as partner and chief investment officer for the Bermuda office.

Mike Millette, chief executive of Hudson and chief investment officer of its reinsurance investments, said the new hire would allow the company to accommodate future growth. The investment manager has just exceeded $1.05 billion in assets under management and expects further growth.

“I worked with Simon when he was with Lancashire and I look forward to working with him again,” Millette said.

He said that Hudson’s approach was unique in the sense that in surveys the entire reinsurance sector is looking for the best places to deploy capital, as opposed to being focused on specific sectors of the market.

“We don’t wake up and think ‘we will invest in a certain thing’. We believe in moving capital to where it is required in the market and where we see value,” he said.

Many executives in Monte Carlo have commented on the importance of the ILS sector’s positive response to the 2017 losses—engendering faith in the sector’s commitment to the market.

But Millette has a slightly different view. “The real turning point for this market was the fourth quarter of 2008, when the financial crisis arrived.

“While the 2017 events were important, they unfolded within that larger validation. ILS had always been sold as a diversifying asset class and that proved to be the case. 2008 was a more important test and really helped the sector grow,” he said.
As one of the pioneers of the ILS sector, Millette also noted that Hudson’s development has occurred in a relatively collaborative way over 25 years.

“It has been an evolution, not a revolution, and has occurred in quite an orderly way,” he said. “That is a far better way for it to have developed. It has complemented the industry over many years now.”