United Risk Global has acquired Sydney based insurance firm, Pinnacle Underwriting and its affiliate Pinnacle Holdings Group. A media release from the worldwide company’s New York office said the acquisition puts it “squarely within the top five largest MGAs in the world” and follows the firm “methodically divesting of nearly all property exposure in the US.”
United Risk describes itself as an independently owned international property and casualty insurance underwriting and distribution platform.
Smith said Pinnacle’s “great value” lies in its property business, accounting for nearly 80% of its underwriting. He said this has been “quite profitable for many years performing well through catastrophe events” and “rounds out” United Risk’s portfolio.
Pinnacle Underwriting, a specialty facultative reinsurance underwriting firm, is headquartered in Sydney with offices in Melbourne, Singapore and Dubai. The release said the firm “manages a substantial book of reinsurance business of which 70% originates in the Asia-Pacific region with the remainder mostly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).”
The Australian agency, said the release, specializes in insurance lines including property, power generation and utilities, onshore oil and gas, and political violence and terrorism.
“On a global scale the entire premium base for the regions covered by Pinnacle is relatively small making it challenging for a primary insurer to accumulate significant premium,” said Smith. “Gaining meaningful market exposure through reinsurance makes a lot of sense to us as we work to diversify globally.”
Jon Gilliott, CEO of Pinnacle Underwriting and now a partner at United Risk, said the firm he founded is a “highly technical business” that will benefit from this strategic partnership.
