Argo sells Ariel Re to Pelican and JC Flowers; Mather returns to take helm

Bermuda-based Argo Group has agreed to sell Ariel Re, a property and casualty reinsurance underwriter operating through Lloyd’s Syndicate 1910, to  investment firms Pelican Ventures and JC Flowers for an undisclosed sum.

Under the agreement, the buying group’s corporate member will provide Ariel Re’s capital for the 2021 year of account, and Argo Group has agreed to retain historical reserves.

Ariel Re’s former chief executive Ryan Mather will return to run the business and oversee underwriting for the syndicate.

Jim Stanard, co-founder of Pelican, will become Ariel’s non-executive chairman while Jayant Khadilkar will act as a special advisor focusing on modeling, analytics and technology.

"Our vision is to make Ariel Re the premier manager of reinsurance risk," said Mather. "Our ability to act independently will enable us to provide greater value to customers, bring fresh capital to the marketplace and enable third-party capital providers to benefit from our team’s industry expertise."

Argo chief executive Kevin Rehnberg, said: "Ariel Re is well known in the reinsurance market, and we are confident the business will thrive as part of Pelican Ventures. Argo Group will continue to focus on specialty insurance lines of business that we expect will result in profitable growth and improved shareholder value. This transaction aligns with our strategy to simplify the business and streamline operations."

Stanard commented: "Pelican Ventures is excited to be investing in Ariel Re and bringing on board talented professionals with unparalleled reinsurance market underwriting expertise and risk management analysis skills. With the financial strength and insights of our new ownership group and under the leadership of Ryan Mather, we will pursue our ambition of building a world-class manager of (re)insurance risk."

Eric Rahe, managing director of JC Flowers, added: "We look forward to partnering with Jim, Ryan, Jayant and the rest of the Ariel Re team to continue to build on its outstanding track record and take advantage of the exciting opportunities in the P&C market today."