Legacy acquirer Compre appoints joint CEOs to succeed co-founder

Independent legacy acquirer Compre has appointed Will Bridger and Mark Lawson as joint CEOs, assuming the role from co-founder Nick Steer.

Bridger and Lawson previously served managing director of acquisitions and group actuarial director, respectively.

Having exited its third-party servicing business in 2017, Compre is focused purely on the acquisition and management of non-life legacy portfolios.

After securing additional debt and equity capital and by working with its reinsurance partners, Compre said it is poised for further growth, and a recently arranged revolving credit facility will help assist in scaling the business.

Compre signed its largest ever transaction with Generali in 2017, and established a protected cell company in Malta.

It also acquired Equinox CA Europe, a captive insurer of global engineering and construction conglomerate SNC-Lavalin, based in Ireland.

Overall, Compre has completed 11 company and 29 portfolio acquisitions across 11 European countries.

Bridger said: “It gives me great pleasure to take on the CEO role with Mark, who shares my passion and drive to continue to develop Compre into one of the major players in the legacy sector. There are great opportunities, which we will work tirelessly to capitalise on to make Compre bigger and stronger.”

Lawson said: “Compre has a strong acquisition pipeline, driven by weekly discussions across Europe with counterparties to help them identify and realise value trapped by legacy liabilities. Continental Europe remains Compre’s heartland but we are highly ambitious and further territories are under consideration.”