Partner Re CEO explains the new focus after ownership change

Bermuda-based Partner Re has changed its strategy after its  acquisition by Italian investment company EXOR, repositioning the reinsurer and refocussing its brand and offering, CEO Emmanuel Clarke told Intelligent Insurer.

Possibly the most significant change the company has made, which has gained growing resonance with the reinsurance industry, has been the decision to exit insurance and primary business. PartnerRe had been in the relatively early stages of building out a primary operation—a process that ended with the Exor deal, as it prefers to operate as a pure-play reinsurer.

The logic of this decision, fully backed by Exor, was twofold, Clarke says. First, he admits that building a successful insurance operation globally is hard, presenting very different challenges from those of the reinsurance industry.

“We had a few ventures into insurance previously but we had never reached the scale to be truly successful,” he says.

The more pertinent reason is that Clarke does not want to compete with his clients. This, he says, is becoming a growing concern for cedants who are grateful to work with a partner that will not compete with them on any level.

The other aspect to PartnerRe’s new strategic approach post-acquisition has been to build a larger presence in life and health reinsurance. Earlier this year, it acquired North American life reinsurance company Aurigen Capital for $286 million.

Formed in 2007, Aurigen was a Bermuda-domiciled reinsurer with operations in Canada and the US, providing mortality risk solutions in the US since 2013. It posted gross premiums written of $126 million in 2016, and has delivered a gross premium compound annual growth rate of 18 percent over the last five years.

Clarke says the deal expanded PartnerRe’s life reinsurance footprint in North America with minimal overlap in market coverage while allowing it to provide a wider range of life reinsurance solutions to existing and future clients.

This news article is just a snapshot of a longer story published by Intelligent Insurer. To read the full article, please click here.

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