Risk Strategies acquires retail and wholesale marine specialty businesses

Risk Strategies has acquired the two subsidiaries of Gowrie Holdings: Gowrie Group (Gowrie), a full-service national specialty retail insurance brokerage; and Maritime Program Group (MPG), a marine-focused managing general agent (MGA).

Founded by Carter Gowrie in 1974, Gowrie offers niche insurance programs. Today it has over 80 employees and five offices in the northeast US, while the MPG division has over 60 employees deployed across six offices in the eastern US.

Gowrie Group’s retail insurance brokerage offers customized protection for marine risks and sailing organisations, as well as equine risks, non-profits and public safety organisations. It also has a specialty employee benefits practice, typically supporting marine-focused and private client practices, including a crew medical programme which provides tailored health insurance benefits to mariners.

Gowrie also offers customised placements for high net worth families and individuals.

MPG offers a suite of recreational, inland and commercial ocean marine solutions, as well as private client personal lines to a network of more than 2,000 brokers across the US. It claims to be the only program underwriter in the marine market holding underwriting authority with the same two carriers for more than 28 years consecutively.

John Mina, Risk Strategies’ CEO, praised Gowrie’s scale in specialisation, both in its retail and wholesale businesses.

Carter Gowrie, chairman and CEO of Gowrie Group, said: “Finding a way to perpetuate and grow our specialised business has always been our focus,” describing Risk Strategies, with its specialty-focus, as “a perfect match for both our retail and wholesale companies.”