New CEO for R&Q joint venture

Obra Capital and R&Q Insurance Holdings have announced the appointment of Kevin Cooke as chief executive of Mine Safety Appliances Company.

MSAC, previously a wholly owned subsidiary of global safety equipment manufacturer MSA Safety Incorporated, was acquired earlier this year by a joint venture between Obra and R&Q.

MSAC holds product liability claims relating to coal dust, asbestos, silica, and other exposures. R&Q provides claims and management services and Obra provides investment management services, to MSAC. The transaction enabled MSA Safety to remove all legacy cumulative trauma product liability reserves, related insurance assets, and associated deferred tax assets of the divested subsidiary from its balance sheet.

Cooke was most recently a vice president of Nomura Securities International where he was an investment banker in its Financial Institutions Group. He was responsible for developing the legacy liability franchise and executing corporate M&A transactions, including leading a team of bankers in the analysis and pricing of legacy liabilities and associated insurance assets. He was a member of the Nomura team that advised Obra and R&Q on the acquisition of MSAC. Previously, Cooke spent over 12 years in the legacy liability business in both senior claim and legal positions with Resolute Management and RiverStone Group.

As chief executive, Cooke will be responsible for the oversight and management of the company as well as leading the active pursuit of future corporate legacy liability transactions.

Andy Pinkes, global legacy chief executive at R&Q, said: “The establishment of our joint venture with Obra earlier this year was another step in our strategy of becoming a data focused, capital efficient, legacy solution provider. It was also our first corporate, non-insurance, legacy liability investment. We believe that there is a clear opportunity to further grow our corporate (non-insurance) legacy liabilities under management and we are pleased to welcome Kevin to help drive this effort. He brings significant experience in both insurance transactions and legacy liability management, and I look forward to working closely with him as we build further scale in this area.”