Arch Insurance to Acquire Ventus Risk Management

Business Wire

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Arch Insurance North America (“Arch”) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ventus Risk Management (“Ventus”), a technology and analytics-driven managing general underwriter (“MGU”) that specializes in providing coastal commercial property insurance solutions to small and mid-sized enterprises.

Ventus was founded in 2016, with the aim of using its proprietary technology to improve automation, efficiency and risk selection. Ventus has become a trusted MGU for its capacity providers and a respected business partner for its producing brokers. Going forward, integrating Ventus into the Arch platform will enable third-party capital to provide capacity alongside Arch’s product offerings.

“Ventus is an insurtech company that has successfully deployed its offerings to support its underwriters, deliver best-in-class analytics and modeling capabilities and provide a superior customer experience,” said Matt Shulman, CEO of Arch Insurance North America. “When combined with the scale of our E&S property portfolio and breadth of our relationships, we will bring enhanced value to our wholesale distribution partners.”

Ventus’ leaders see this transaction as beneficial to its employees, brokers, customers and carrier partners.

George Reeth, a Ventus co-founder who has announced his retirement with the sale of the company, said, “I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built at Ventus. By joining the Arch family, our employees will have access to a depth of resources that will allow them to continue to bring robust, creative solutions to the market and develop professionally.”

Co-founder Stuart Mercer, who will become the CEO of Ventus upon the close of the sale, added, “Arch is known for innovative structures that allow third-party capital to access insurance and reinsurance risks behind its strong underwriting expertise. The combined platform will bring broader capabilities and expanded capacity to Arch’s E&S property unit. I’m excited to continue to bring technology driven solutions to the marketplace when our producers and customers need it the most.”

Advisors

TigerRisk Capital Markets & Advisory acted as exclusive financial advisor to Ventus.

About Arch Insurance North America

Arch Insurance North America, part of Arch Capital Group Ltd., includes Arch’s insurance operations in the United States and Canada. Business in the U.S. is written by Arch Insurance Company, Arch Specialty Insurance Company, Arch Excess & Surplus Insurance Company and Arch Indemnity Insurance Company. Business in Canada is written by Arch Insurance Canada Ltd.

About Arch Capital Group Ltd.

Arch Capital Group Ltd., a Bermuda-based company with approximately $12.49 billion in capital at June 30, 2019, provides insurance, reinsurance and mortgage insurance on a worldwide basis through its wholly owned subsidiaries.

About Ventus Risk Management

Ventus Risk Management is a managing general underwriter with over 30 employees and offices in Atlanta, GA, Columbia, SC, Houston, TX and Richmond, VA. Ventus focuses on providing coastal commercial property insurance solutions to small and mid-sized enterprises, on behalf of several third-party carrier partners.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for forward−looking statements. This release or any other written or oral statements made by or on behalf of Arch Capital Group Ltd. and its subsidiaries may include forward−looking statements, which reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in or incorporated by reference in this release are forward−looking statements.

Forward−looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward−looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe" or "continue" or their negative or variations or similar terminology. Forward−looking statements involve our current assessment of risks and uncertainties. Actual events and results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these statements. A non-exclusive list of the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements includes the following: adverse general economic and market conditions; increased competition; pricing and policy term trends; fluctuations in the actions of rating agencies and our ability to maintain and improve our ratings; investment performance; the loss of key personnel; the adequacy of our loss reserves, severity and/or frequency of losses, greater than expected loss ratios and adverse development on claim and/or claim expense liabilities; greater frequency or severity of unpredictable natural and man-made catastrophic events; the impact of acts of terrorism and acts of war; changes in regulations and/or tax laws in the United States or elsewhere; our ability to successfully integrate, establish and maintain operating procedures as well as integrate the businesses we have acquired or may acquire into the existing operations; changes in accounting principles or policies; material differences between actual and expected assessments for guaranty funds and mandatory pooling arrangements; availability and cost to us of reinsurance to manage our gross and net exposures; the failure of others to meet their obligations to us; and other factors identified in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The foregoing review of important factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with other cautionary statements that are included herein or elsewhere. All subsequent written and oral forward−looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward−looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.