Specialist transactional risk insurer Icen Risk announced it is expanding to the United States to meet strong demand.
London-based Icen said minority owner Zurich Insurance G
roup is providing $50 million of capacity, effective immediately. In Apr
il, Zurich acquired a stake in the insurer of mergers and acquisitions.
Icen, founded in 2018by Dawn Bhoma and Rob Brown, said transactional-related premiums in the U.S. have grow
n to exceed $1 billion in recent years, and M&A is increasingly cross-bo
rder—introducing complexity. The insurer said it will initially offer U.S. pri
vate equity, investment funds and corporates with specialist cover for ta
x risks and reps & warranties.
Operating out of New York and London, a new senior team with underwriting, tax, accounting and legal expertise ha
s been appointed. Chad Wilson, will head up the tax liability insurance
offering and Jonathan Sprintz will head reps and warranties. The tax
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team will also include Karishma Joshi, Laura Eguaras and Joshua Larrimore.
“The U.S. M&A insurance market has experienced double-digit growth every year in the last 5 years, but with plenty of o
pportunity for creative underwriting backed by the highest quality capaci
ty,” said Bhoma, managing principal. “The new senior team’s unrivalled tax expertise, across multiple areas of tax, c
ombined with the firepower, brand strength and network of Zurich mea
ns we are uniquely positioned to replicate our UK and European su
ccess in the most vibrant M&A market in the world.”
“With deal activity in North America surging and becoming increas
ingly complex, now is the right time to meet growing client demand with our bespoke coverage. We have a
ttracted some of the industry’s leading tax experts to initially fulfil what we see is a key M&A risk in the US and o
ver time we look forward to rolling out a comprehensive product suite in the region.”