Active insurance-linked securities issuer Munich Re plans to acquire Bell & Clements Group, an underwriter with which it already has a relationship. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but the Frankfurt-based reinsurer says that it will step up its securitization activities over the next six to nine months.
Bell & Clements, with offices in Reston, Va., and London, manages a portfolio of $300 million for Munich Re and other insurers through its network of agents in British and U.S. markets. For Munich Re, Bell & Clements primarily wrote property fire and other small commercial business. Munich Re says the acquisition will help its planned expansion, which will be geared more toward sustained bottom-line growth, rather than premium growth.
