Fusion Specialty launched

Fusion Specialty, a M&A and Financial Lines insurance specialist, has launched Fusion Specialty UK, offering new solutions for M&A insurance in the UK, spearheaded by managing partner Josh Cowen and partner Samuel Shirley.

In an industry where the UK SME market has been historically underserved, Fusion Specialty UK will provide access to the first of its kind M&A insurance online product, along with a technology driven and enabled warranties & indemnities and broader M&A insurance offering which are designed specifically for (lower) mid-market M&A transactions, offering deal appropriate, specialist coverage and pricing, together with streamlined processes.

In common with Fusion Specialty’s recently announced US launch, capacity for its Mio offering is provided by first class security, including Markel International Insurance Company, and insurance cover will be delivered over the io.insure – InsurTech platform.

According to the company Fusion Specialty UK will soon announce its trading entry into the lower mid-market W&I, contingent risks and excess tax liability markets, followed by SME financial lines, enabled by the io.insure data & technology platform.

In addition Josh Cowen has joined Fusion Speciality UK as managing partner having previously built a successful and expansive M&A proposition and team from a standing start as head of M&A underwriting at Aviva. Prior to this, Cowen began his M&A insurance career at AIG eventually leading its M&A Insurance UK private equity team, having previously gained M&A and corporate legal expertise as a solicitor at Macfarlanes.

Samuel Shirley has also joined Fusion Speciality UK as partner. He joins from Aviva where, as a senior underwriter and alongside Josh, he built the M&A business and its transactional risk portfolio. Prior to this, he worked in Arch’s warranty & indemnity team following roles at Deutsche Bank as transaction structurer and manager and Travers Smith and Osborne Clarke as M&A and corporate associate.

Cowen said: “2021 was the most consistently buoyant year for M&A activity that the global M&A insurance market has experienced for some time. Whilst we cannot expect quite the same level to be sustained into 2022, we do expect activity to remain strong, particularly into the last quarter of the year as dealmakers take the summer to prepare sale processes for year-end completions. What we have seen in this time is the start of some polarisation of deal values brought to the M&A insurance market. The mid-market has remained active but the numbers of SME - lower mid-market (< £250m) and the large-mega deals (£500m+) looking for M&A insurance cover have significantly grown over the past 2-3 years. With this, and the number of M&A insurance carriers in the London market, there is and must be some natural segmentation in specialist offerings.”