SiriusPoint calls off major Lloyd’s M&A deal with Mosaic after U-turn on growth strategy

Mitch Blaser (Pictured Left) and Mark Wheeler-led global specialty insurance start-up  Mosaic has confirmed that its planned deal to purchase the  Lloyd’s managing agency of  SiriusPoint has been called off by the seller. The move follows SiriusPoint CEO  Scott Egan’s (Pictured Right) decision to downsize its global footprint in a bid to turn around the group’s reinsurance business away from property cat.

SiriusPoint  announced in March its decision to sell its Lloyd’s managing agency to Mosaic while agreeing to investing in the fellow Bermudian to spur its growth, providing underwriting capacity to Mosaic’s syndicated capital programme and access to global licenses and infrastructure through a fronting arrangement.

The Bermuda-based carrier has recently served notice to terminate the planned transaction. “We have received notice from SiriusPoint to terminate the transaction announced earlier this year,” Mosaic co-CEO Blaser confirmed in a statement.

Blaser stated that Mosaic is on a “great growth trajectory” of its own and remains committed to Lloyd’s and the London market. “Our focus remains on our core specialty growth strategies. We’ll continue to work closely with our strong commercial partners to provide solutions to the most complex risks around the world,” he said.

SiriusPoint’s Egan said the Lloyd’s market is core to its business and that its managing agency and team will remain part of the group.

“We see Lloyd’s as core to our business and we’re very excited about the opportunities available to us in the London Market, and the contribution we can make in that space,” Egan said.

Earlier this month, SiriusPoint disclosed in its third quarter statement that company’s CEO Egan, who just joined in September, has drawn up  major restructuring plans that will see some more top officials head to the door and several offices close, including officer in Hamburg, Miami and Singapore, and reduce its footprint in Liege and Toronto.

The idea is to reduce the locations from which SiriusPoint underwrites property catastrophe reinsurance business due to “poor historical performance and inadequate returns on capital”.

Reinsurance remains “an important part” of the business, but “will represent a smaller portion of the overall portfolio going forward,” Egan said at that time.

In the third quarter 2022, SiriusPoint plunged to a net loss of $98 million, compared with a net loss of $48 million in the prior year.

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