Former AIG CEO Greenberg, Ironshore in Joint Excess Casualty Venture

January 26, 2009

Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, the man who ran American International Group for nearly 40 years and who now runs C.V. Starr & Co., is being reunited with some executives who used to work under him when he ran AIG.

C.V. Starr is teaming up with Bermuda-based Ironshore Inc. to form a new excess insurance agency. The new agency will be known as Iron-Starr Excess Agency Limited. Iron-Starr Excess will act as a specialty lines insurance and reinsurance managing general agency, domiciled in Bermuda.

The new agency will write catastrophic excess casualty insurance products, targeting Fortune 2000 and other clients purchasing cat excess coverages. Policy limits up to $75 million will be issued.

“This partnership enables Ironshore to enter the excess casualty market with additional backing and support to offer larger limits, consistent with the needs of our clients,” said Kevin Kelley, Ironshore’s new CEO and former CEO of AIG’s giant surplus lines insurer, Lexington Insurance, who served under Greenberg.

“We look forward to developing a long-standing relationship with C. V. Starr and are excited about this new venture. This arrangement will assure customers that during these challenging times, they have a syndicated alternative that understands their needs and have the experience to be a long-term solution,” Kelley said.

“There are significant opportunities in this market, and C.V. Starr together with Ironshore has the team to get the job done. We are delighted to be partnering with them in this venture,” said Greenberg, chairman and CEO of C.V. Starr.

C.V. Starr is an independently-owned holding company with insurance agencies and a portfolio of global investments.

Greenberg remains one of AIG’s largest shareholders. He has been critical of AIG management since he left the firm in 2005 and, most recently, of some of the plans to sell off certain AIG assets.

This deal with Ironshore puts Greenberg back in business with several executives Ironshore has lured away from AIG in recent months.

One day last month after it stole Kelley from Lexington, Ironshore announced that another former Lexington executive, Shaun Kelly, had been appointed CEO of U.S. Operations. Kelly had been president and chief operating officer of Lexington.

Ironshore has also appointed former AIG executive Steven England as executive vice president responsible for its newly created U.S. Property/ Casualty underwriting operations based in St. Louis, Missouri. Two other AIG executives, Jordan Gantz and Jim Dowdy also joined Irosnhore and both report to Steve England.

Also, Joe Boren and John O’Brien, formerly with AIG, have joined as CEO and president, respectively, of Ironshore’s newly established Environmental Insurance facility.

AIG has been paying retention bonuses in an effort to halt the exits of executives.

Sources:
Ironshore
www.ironshore.com

C.V. Starr
www.cvstarr.com

Topics Excess Surplus AIG Casualty

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