Ryan Specialty to Acquire Nashville-Based Velocity Risk Underwriters MGU

Ryan Specialty, a specialty insurance services firm and trading partner for agents and brokers, plans to acquire Nashville-based Velocity Risk Underwriters, with a closing date early this year.

Velocity Risk, providing coverage for catastrophe-exposed properties, is a managing general underwriter that has been a part of Oaktree Capital Management, Ryan said in a news release. The purchase price included $525 million in cash.

Velocity will now become part of Ryan Specialty Underwriting Managers. The move expands Ryan’s wholesale client services, said Miles Wuller, CEO of Ryan Specialty Underwriting Managers.

As a component of this transaction, and subject to regulatory approval, Velocity’s excess and surplus carrier, Velocity Specialty Insurance Company (VSIC), will be acquired by commercial property mutual insurance company FM, formerly known as FM Global.

The 15-year-old publicly traded Ryan Specialty, headquartered in Chicago with operations in the U.S. and Europe, undertook a number of acquisitions in 2024. One of those came in May when the firm announced that it had acquired London-based Paradiso Risks as part of its acquisition of Castel Underwriting Agencies.