Skuld’s Special Purpose Arrangement, Agora, Completes Senior Team

Skuld announced the completion of the senior team at Agora, the special purpose arrangement (SPA) of Skuld Syndicate 1897, specializing in the property direct & facultative (D&F) and treaty markets. The SPA started trading in January 2016.

“Agora, led by Mike Pritchard, has quickly established itself in the D&F and binder arenas with Neil Wren and Anthony Strain as the key underwriters,” the company said in a statement.

The team will be completed with the arrival of Peter Coleman as head of D&F in early December. Coleman comes to Agora from Pembroke Syndicate 4000, which is part of Ironshore, where he was executive director, head of London and Bermuda property and energy practice leader.

James Blackwell, who joined in June as head of treaty, leads the treaty team with Mathew Storr recently appointed as his deputy. The treaty team’s main areas of focus are international and specialty treaty. (In his previous role, Blackwell was head of property and specialty treaty at Montpelier Syndicate, while Storr was a property treaty underwriter at Markel International.)

The senior team is completed by Sean Sawyer as managing director. Sawyer has been with Agora Syndicate Holdings since November 2015. He has run the re/insurance consultancy, S105 Consulting, since 2009. Between 2005 and 2008, he was COO at Gallagher Re and held the position of group senior vice president at Alea Group between 1999 and 2004.

“With the full team in place for the 2017 year the SPA is well placed to capitalize on the strong start this year and recently gained Lloyd’s approval for its 2017 business plan with a stamp of £60 million,” Skuld said.

Source: Skuld