Lockton acquires assets of Vanpoint, hires its CEO to drive capital markets unit

Lockton Capital Markets has acquired the assets of Vanpoint Advisors and appointed its founder as its chief executive officer as it seeks to grow the unit.

Ken Pierce founded and was the CEO of Vanpoint Advisors, which originated and structured asset portfolio financing transactions for alternative asset managers, as well as closed block reinsurance, sidecar reinsurance, and surplus notes, providing capital and capital relief for insurers.

On June 1, the assets of Vanpoint were merged into Lockton Capital Markets. Pierce also previously held leadership roles at Mayer Brown, Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers.

Pierce said: “Lockton Capital Markets will continue to serve as a trusted advisor to the insurance and alternative asset management industries, delivering innovative solutions to our clients. We will continue to grow our structured finance practice that brings the insurance and alternative asset management industries together in bespoke, yield-enhancing, capital efficient financing transactions, and our solutions practice, which delivers capital and capital relief to insurers and reinsurers through multiple avenues including closed block and sidecar reinsurance transactions, surplus notes and insurance-linked securities.”

Ron Lockton, chairman, Lockton Companies, said: “I look forward to Ken’s leadership of Lockton Capital Markets. Given his proven track record and exemplary approach to solve complex challenges, the Lockton Capital Markets team will be a great partner to the rest of Lockton with Ken as its CEO. This is another example of industry leading talent joining Lockton.”

Michael Calabrese, executive chairman, Lockton Capital Markets, added: “I am very pleased that Ken is joining LCM as our CEO,” said. “I am confident from our discussions over the years, that he shares our vision to build a Capital Markets business as a specialized team leveraging Lockton’s global platform and collaborating with our various business units to provide creative solutions for insurance companies, asset managers, and corporate clients.”