People Moves: Liberty GTS Expands in Europe; AEGIS London Promotes Yeldham to CUO; Brit Names Argo’s Allen, MAP’s Poynder for Property Facilities Team
This edition of International People Moves details appointments at Liberty Global Transactions, AEGIS London and Brit Ltd.
A summary of these new hires follows here.
Liberty Global Transaction Solutions Expands European Presence
Liberty Global Transaction Solutions announced that, as part of its aim to better serve the expanding Italian, Spanish and French warranty & indemnity insurance markets, its multi-lingual Southern European underwriting team now offers a local presence in Milan, Madrid and Paris.
Barbara Magni, senior underwriter for Liberty GTS, relocates from London to the Liberty Specialty Markets (LSM) office in Milan, Italy. Magni is a dual-qualified M&A lawyer, having trained with Clyde & Co in London, and within the W&I team at XL Catlin. She has been with Liberty GTS and its subsidiary Ironshore since 2016, focusing on Southern European transactions.
Antonio Jesús Sánchez, underwriter for Liberty GTS, relocates from London to the LSM office in Madrid, Spain. Prior to joining Liberty GTS in January 2020 in London, Sánchez was an associate at the corporate department of Hogan Lovells and Pérez-Llorca, based in Madrid. He has advised on a variety of M&A deals in Spain and Latin America.
Martin Noire, underwriter for Liberty GTS, joins the LSM office in Paris, France. Noire is a qualified lawyer within the French legal code (Avocat à la Cour) and prior to joining Liberty GTS was an associate at Hogan Lovells and Baker McKenzie, Paris. He specializes in French and cross-border mergers and acquisitions.
“As we expand our business, building on our previous successes in Germany and the Netherlands, we are fully committed to building out our regional underwriting talent in Europe,” said Markus Messinger, head of EMEA for Liberty GTS.
“I am delighted to be able to manage this through a combination of relocating home-grown Liberty GTS talent, as well as bringing new underwriters into our European team. Barbara, Antonio and Martin are all talented underwriters with great M&A experience; and this makes them perfectly qualified to support our clients as they seek to manage the risks within French, Italian, Spanish and wider Southern European deals,” Messinger added.
“[I]t is a huge advantage for our clients to now have access to native-speaking underwriters with both local law qualifications and transaction experience permanently based in their respective M&A markets,” commented Nicholas Lunn, head of Southern Europe for Liberty GTS.
Part of Liberty Mutual Group, Liberty Global Transaction Solutions (GTS) employs more than 70 M&A insurance specialists, who help facilitate, on average, more than 800 M&A deals a year. GTS offers specialized products and services to help facilitate M&A transactions for buyers and sellers, including representations & warranties (R&W), warranty & indemnity (W&I) insurance, tax liability insurance and one-off policies created for individual contingent risks.
AEGIS London Promotes Yeldham to CUO, Succeeding Croom-Johnson
AEGIS London, the Lloyd’s syndicate and subsidiary of AEGIS (Associated Electric & Gas Insurance Services Ltd.), announced that Matthew Yeldham will be promoted to chief underwriting officer (CUO) in July. The appointment follows the news that the current CUO, Alex Powell, will succeed David Croom-Johnson as chief executive officer when he retires in June.
Yeldham has been deputy chief underwriting officer since 2015, having joined AEGIS London in 2010. Previously, he held senior positions in the London insurance market, including Aspen Insurance Group and Wellington Underwriting.
“In line with our succession plan, Matthew’s appointment is the obvious choice, given his long-standing tenure on the AEGIS London board of directors and the depth of his underwriting knowledge and experience,” commented Powell. “He is well placed to help in our pursuit of a broad digitisation, automation and data led strategic agenda across all functions of the business, which will support our ambitions to be a dynamic underwriting platform at the forefront of our markets.”
Both Powell’s and Yeldham’s appointments are subject to regulatory approval.
Brit Names Argo Global’s Allen and MAP’s Poynder for Property Facilities Team
Brit Ltd. announced the appointments of Joanne Allen and Thomas Poynder to its Property Facilities team. Having taken up their roles in early January 2022, Allen joins as flood class underwriter, reporting into Sarah Mendola, divisional director, while Poynder joins as underwriter for Transportation, reporting to David Perkins, class underwriter, Transportation.
An industry expert with over 20 years’ experience underwriting U.S. property catastrophe, Allen joins from Argo Global. She most recently held the position of class underwriter and head of U.S. delegated portfolio for flood and bank-related P&L for six years, growing the book significantly during her time managing the portfolio. Prior to joining Argo in 2015, Allen held a number of property underwriting roles at Ark Management Syndicate, Catlin and Wellington Underwriting.
Poynder joins from Managing Agency Partners (MAP), where he held the role of assistant underwriter for International Transportation for over two years. He joined MAP in 2016 as an underwriting assistant for Motor, having started his career in insurance at Chubb underwriting political risk & trade credit.