Industry Vets Bonneau and Bredahl Form Novel Financial, Acquire Forza Insurance

The former chief executives of Partner Re and Howden Tiger are joining two other industry veterans to form a company, which they describe as “an independent holding company that oversees carriers supporting managing general underwriters.

Novel Financial Holdings LLC (“Novel”) will manage policyholder-owned reciprocal exchanges through ownership of attorney-in-facts (AIFs) and it will also manage traditional stock insurance companies through direct ownership and service contracts, according to a media statement.

“By combining the fee income from AIFs and other service arrangements with underwriting results from insurance carriers, Novel will build a diversified underwriting and insurance services business,” the statement says.

Key executives making this happen are:

• Jacques Bonneau, the former CEO and President of Partner Re, who will serve as Novel’s Chairman.
• Rob Bredahl, who currently serves and will continue to serve as Vice Chairman of Howden Re (formerly Howden Tiger), will be Novel’s CEO. Bredahl is also Executive Chairman of Howden Capital Markets and Advisory.
• Chris Coleman, most recently the Group Chief Financial Officer or Aspen Insurance Group, will become Novel’s CFO.
• David Drury, a Fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society who previously served as EVP of Underwriting at SiriusPoint, will be Head of Analytics & Risk at Novel.

The launch announcement reports that Novel recently acquired Forza Insurance Holdings, which owns the attorney-in-facts (AIFs) of SureChoice Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange (SURE) and Elevate Reciprocal Exchange (Elevate). These policyholder-owned insurance companies are managed by Novel and write business through a strategic partnership with SageSure, an MGU focused on catastrophe-exposed property markets in the United States.

Novel aims to generate shareholder returns through increased scale and diversification—of both underwriting exposures and types of revenue—and though “expert program partner selection.”

Source: Novel Financial Holdings LLC

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions