New reinsurance broker led by ex-Aon exec enters market with $100m backing

A new reinsurance broker specialising in bespoke solutions for complex risks has launched in London, with a $100 million investment from US private equity backer Altamont Capital Partners. The business in the UK is led by a former  Aon/ McGill broker, with a team of senior executives having extensive experience at companies like  AmTrust,  Gallagher Re, JLT,  Acrisure, and  Lockton Re, among others.

Augment has launched with a mission to “revolutionise insurance risk arbitrage” with access to $100 million in funding from Altamont.

The company is led by managing director Alex Kazanjian (pictured), who was recently partner – structured solutions at broker McGill and Partners, and prior to that, spent almost six years at Aon Benfield in various senior roles.

“Augment was founded because we believed that by taking a holistic approach to our partners’ needs — broking the entire client, rather than any single class of business — we could unlock unprecedented opportunities for growth,” explained Kazanjian. “Focusing on establishing long term relationships with our clients, rather than on their product, enables us to deliver the creative approaches today’s market needs.”

Augment said its solutions are intended to help partners manage volatility through strategic, structurally efficient, multi class and/or multi geography transactions. While “reinsurance is at the foundation of its approach”, it said its offering is designed for a range of strategies, including prospective reinsurance and retrospective capital and legacy structures — for property and casualty clients “with a focus on maximising enterprise value”.

Sam Gaynor, managing director, Altamont, remarked: “Augment’s strategy is a perfect match for Altamont’s insurance investing focus. They’ve identified a clear market need to help their P&C customers address the most complex risk capital challenges in the most efficient manner, and we’re excited to lend platform-formation capabilities to form a brokerage firm perfectly suited to today’s market dynamics.”

Keoni Schwartz, managing director at Altamont, added: “Augment is the latest example of de novo platform formation in Financial Services, something we’ve successfully done five times previously at Altamont. With our over $4.3 billion of capital under management, we look forward to bringing substantial resources to bear to aid in Augment’s success.”

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