Greenwich Group - Syndicate News

Wellington Underwriting Agents Ltd

	14 June 2002	Proposed formation of Wellington Re On 29th May, Wellington Underwriting plc announced a proposal to form a new Bermuda domiciled holding company (Holding) and acquire City Fire (which would then be renamed Wellington Re) an FSA authorised insurance company. Wellington Re will be the largest independent reinsurance company based in the UK and will write property and casualty reinsurance and UK commercial insurance. Simultaneously, Wellington will raise additional equity capital in order to strengthen its financial base, fund its investments in Holdings and provide additional finance to support its underwriting at Lloyd's on Syndicate 2020. From 2003, Wellington Re will underwrite at renewal the property, casualty and UK commercial insurance lines, which are currently written by Syndicate 2020. The syndicate will, in addition to the remaining book of business, write a quota-share of the business of Wellington Re. The existing syndicate members will maintain their existing lines and pre-emption entitlement on Syndicate 2020. They will also, through a Name's Trust, be granted a beneficial interest in options representing 5.5% of the fully diluted share capital of Holdings. In addition they will be entitled to a profit commission, should the investors in Holdings achieve an internal rate of return in excess of 30% and will be offered the right to acquire, through the Name's Trust, up to Ł15M of the issued share capital in Holdings.
	27 April 2002	Wellington announce arrangement with Berkshire Hathaway to increase capacity to Ł963 million for 200 Wellington Underwriting plc ("Wellington") has announced a major initiative which will increase substantially its underwriting capabilities. Wellington has entered into an agreement in principle with Berkshire Hathaway, whereby certain of Berkshire Hathaway's wholly owned subsidiaries have agreed to provide a 30% qualifying quota share (QQS) reinsurance to syndicate 2020 for the 2002 year of account and also to provide the funds at Lloyd's necessary for Wellington to form a new Ł150m syndicate which will underwrite on a consortium basis with syndicate 2020 for the 2002 year of account. Wellington has a 46% share on syndicate 2020. These arrangements will: · Increase Wellington's managed capacity from Ł625m to Ł963m for the 2002 year of account, thereby enabling Wellington to meet its original planned premium income of Ł950m for the current underwriting year. · Substantially enhance Wellington's revenues through its receipt of: - a management fee of Ł0.9m from the new syndicate; - a profit commission of 17.5% of the profits of the new syndicate; - 46% of the commissions payable to syndicate 2020 on the QQS. · Reduce Wellington's costs through the allocation of a proportion of syndicate 2020's expenses to the new syndicate. The proposed arrangements have been approved by Lloyd's in principle, but remain subject only to the approval of capital providers participating on syndicate 2020 for the 2002 year of account. It is anticipated that a circular seeking approval for the proposals will be sent to capital providers shortly. In accordance with Lloyd's normal requirements, capital providers will have a period of 21 days in which to vote for or against the proposed arrangements.
	22 September 1999	Wellington bilateral deal with Grenville Wellington Underwriting Agencies Ltd (WUA Ltd) has agreed bilateral deals with the members of Syndicate 2020 listed below to acquire participation rights for the 2000 year of account in auction 5: Grenville Underwriting Plc* Ł600,341 @ 24p / Ł Grenville Underwriting II Ltd* Ł2,421,398 @ 24p / Ł CLM Ł1,436,200 @ 24p / Ł New London Capital Ł3,762,500 @ 24p / Ł WUA Ltd reserves the right to participate in the auction at prices that may be different to those outlined above. WUA Ltd also reserves the right to enter into other bilateral transactions. * Grenville Underwriting Plc and Grenville Underwriting II Ltd are subsidiaries of Greenwich Insurance Holdings Plc.
	17 March 1999	Wellington to recruit new Aviation Underwriting Team Wellington have announced that, subject to Lloyd's approval, Peter Williams, former Active Underwriter of Syndicate 960, will lead the Aviation division in Syndicate 2020. He will be joined by Doug Curties and Robert Swinton, also from Syndicate 960. Brian Beagley, Active Underwriter on Syndicate 960 from 1974 to 1994 will join the Syndicate on a consultancy basis.