Specialist MGA Platform Pine Walk Launches Energy Liability MGA, OPEnergy

Pine Walk Capital Ltd., the London-based specialist MGA platform, has announced the launch of its sixth MGA, OPEnergy Ltd.

OPEnergy received regulatory approval from the UK regulator on Jan. 6, 2022 and will write onshore and offshore energy liability risks, providing public, products and pollution liability lines.

OPEnergy is led by the knowledgeable, experienced and market-leading underwriter Oliver Brown as CEO, said Pine Walk, noting that Brown has successfully created, developed and managed energy liability portfolios at Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI), Catlin and Zurich.

Also joining OPEnergy from BHSI is Penny Wang who brings over 15 years’ energy liability underwriting experience, having previously worked at Starr and Zurich.

OPEnergy was the second MGA to join the Pine Walk platform in 2021, following market stalwart Clive Washbourn’s specialty marine MGA Navium which launched in May.

“OPEnergy’s launch further underlines Pine Walk’s ambitious growth agenda over the next five years and attracting entrepreneurial underwriting talent like Oliver Brown to our platform is a key part of our strategy,” said Pine Walk CEO Rinku Patel.

“The energy liability market has shown significant price strengthening over the last few years; this combined with Oliver’s experience and market reputation made launching OPEnergy an easy decision for both of us,” Patel added.

“OPEnergy’s extensive offering will differentiate us from the rest of the market by providing flexible, tailored solutions to the ever-changing landscape faced by energy companies. We are looking forward to working with clients and brokers to develop long-term relationships and create a profitable portfolio,” said OPEnergy CEO Brown.

“Pine Walk’s operating model means that Penny and I can concentrate on underwriting and re-establishing our core broker relationships. We see a significant opportunity to bring new risk solutions to the energy liability market in 2022. With Pine Walk and Fidelis’ backing, we will be able to make a meaningful impact very quickly. OPEnergy is trading and we are ready to welcome brokers to our new Lime Street office,” Brown continued.

“Fidelis in partnership with Pine Walk is always looking for ways to bring market leading underwriting expertise into the group and expanding and cross selling amongst our product offerings. As Fidelis continues to grow we become more and more relevant to our clients and brokers,” commented Richard Coulson, chief executive officer of Insurance and chief underwriting officer of Fidelis Underwriting Ltd..

OPEnergy writes the following classes of business:

• Refining
• Petrochemical
• Mining (no coal involvement)
• Power generation
• Transmission and distribution
• Renewable energy
• Storage companies
• Exploration and production
• Pipelines
• Service / drilling contractors
• Construction of all of the above

About Pine Walk

Headquartered in London with an EU-based office in Brussels, Pine Walk is a specialist MGA platform geared towards helping underwriting teams create, build, and run successful insurance businesses. Pine Walk Capital Ltd. is a Fidelis Group company.

Existing Pine Walk MGAs:

• Radius – specialist reinsurance and retrocession
• Oakside – surety bond business focussing on construction
• Kersey – upstream energy
• Perigon – contamination and product recall
• Navium – marine
• OPEnergy – onshore and offshore energy liability

Source: Pine Walk Capital Ltd.

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