Maiden strikes renewal rights deal with AmTrust Nordic after ‘strategic review’

Bermuda-based Maiden Holdings has entered into a renewal rights agreement with an AmTrust subsidiary following a “strategic review” of its international primary business.

The transaction is expected to cover the majority of its primary business written through its Swedish subsidiaries, Maiden General Försäkrings (Maiden GF) and Maiden Life Försäkrings (Maiden LF) in Sweden, Norway and other Nordic countries.

Under the agreement, AmTrust Nordic AB, the company's Swedish unit, in collaboration with existing Maiden GF and Maiden LF distribution partners, will offer renewals to select policyholders in exchange for a fee at standard market terms for business renewed.

The company said the move is part of its plan to divest its International Insurance Services (ISS) businesses, following a “strategic review” of the business platform.

Maiden also plans to enter into more renewal rights agreements with other AmTrust subsidiaries for certain businesses in the UK and Ireland.

Maiden’s chief executive officer, Patrick Haveron said: “Our IIS unit had made considerable strides in growing the premium produced by the business. However, the business is not at scale for Maiden, and we concluded that the prospects to achieve an acceptable return were ultimately challenging and limited. Our agreements today with AmTrust were entered into after an extensive market clearing process that sought to divest the business either as a whole, or in a series of transactions.

“We concluded this path will ultimately preserve the greatest amount of capital previously committed to the business which we can reallocate to other initiatives with greater return prospect while retaining options to enter into additional transactions currently under evaluation. When we ultimately divest these subsidiaries and the entirety of the business, we expect our Group operating expenses to be reduced by up to $6 million annually. We will report further on these transactions as we finalise and complete them.”

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