K2 Insurance Services makes first acquisition outside US

Pioneer Underwriters (Pioneer) has agreed commercial terms for a transaction with specialty insurance services holding company K2 Insurance Services (K2). The transaction will be the first acquisition for K2 outside the US.

Pioneer will form the cornerstone for a new international platform of K2. This will initially include the Pioneer offerings in property cat reinsurance, financial institutions, international property facultative and marine specialty along with the support staff, together writing approximately £150 million ($195 million) gross written premium in 2020, all of which is backed by high quality capacity providers.

Following the work to explore capital options, announced in November 2019, the board of Pioneer said it considers that the proposed transaction with K2 offers an exciting opportunity to build on the business’ strengths in improving market conditions.

The transaction, the terms of which are not disclosed, is expected to be concluded in the coming weeks and remains subject to confirmatory due diligence and various approvals.

Andrew McMellin, chief executive officer of Pioneer, said: “K2 is a highly successful business in the US and its vision of building a broad, high quality and service driven group of expert underwriting businesses, now with an expanding international focus, has clear appeal for our underwriting teams and support staff, as well as significant benefit for our customers and capacity providers.”

Bob Kimmel, CEO of K2, said: “Pioneer’s underwriting leadership have the skills, customer commitment and capital relationships that are an excellent fit for K2. We look forward to working closely with them as we build an international distribution platform to complement our successful existing US business.”

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