Cedar Trace Underwriting has secured in-principle approval from Lloyd's Council to launch a US$300 million syndicate for the 2027 underwriting year. The platform behind it has grown to more than US$1 billion in gross written premium since its Bermuda launch less than two years ago.
The syndicate will write a diversified reinsurance portfolio alongside a delegated direct insurance portfolio. That structure gives the group a second underwriting platform with access to Lloyd's global distribution and licensing advantages. Capital is expected to come from existing shareholders of Mereo Insurance Ltd and from investors in Cedar Trace Capital Management's ILS funds. Asta will provide managing agency services under a third-party service agreement.
The move marks the London market arrival of a platform assembled by Brian Duperreault, executive chairman of Cedar Trace. Duperreault previously served as chief executive of AIG, Marsh & McLennan, and ACE, now Chubb. Cedar Trace is closely affiliated with Mereo Insurance, the Bermuda-based reinsurer rated A- by AM Best. David Croom-Johnson, who leads Mereo, will serve as executive chairman of the new syndicate. Richard Holden, chief underwriting officer at Cedar Trace, will lead it on an underwriting basis.
Duperreault described the Lloyd's entry as a natural step. "We have built out our Bermuda platforms to over $1 billion of GWP in 2026 and entry into Lloyd's in 2027 is a natural next step in scaling our ambitions," he said.
Cedar Trace is not entering a static market. Lloyd's received more than 50 serious underwriting enquiries in 2025, with 13 new syndicates launching on January 1. Reinsurance was the strongest-growing business line among them.
That wave of new entrants has coincided with softening conditions: Lloyd's recorded a market-wide price reduction of 6.7% in the first half of 2026. AM Best expects rates to remain adequate through the end of 2026. Against a Lloyd's stamp capacity base that Howden Re put at US$65.3 billion for 2025, a US$300 million syndicate is an incremental addition. But in a market where reinsurance has been the fastest-growing segment, the direction of travel matters as much as the size of any individual entry.
More capacity and more competing syndicates seeking relationships gives brokers greater negotiating room when structuring reinsurance programmes. Cedar Trace's model adds a particular dimension to that. The syndicate will combine a reinsurance book with a delegated authority portfolio. Coverholders and MGAs gain a route to Lloyd's-rated capacity through the platform, alongside the group's existing Bermuda relationships.
Part of the funding base will come from Cedar Trace Capital Management's ILS funds, which already support the Bermuda platform. That approach blends third-party and traditional capital in a structure increasingly common among newer Lloyd's entrants, including Fidelis Partnership and its Blackstone-backed Syndicate 2126. It means the capacity behind the syndicate is not purely dependent on retained earnings or traditional membership capital.
Holden said the group's existing relationships in both the reinsurance and delegated authority markets positioned it well for the Lloyd's entry. "Lloyd's is obviously a market that David and I know extremely well, and the capital and licensing advantages that it brings allow us to expand our offerings to our existing reinsurance relationships and to bring new delegated coverholders to the market," he said.
The syndicate remains subject to final regulatory approvals before it commences underwriting in January 2027. Cedar Trace's entry comes as Lloyd's faces its first full soft-market renewal cycle since the post-2017 hardening. That context will test whether new capacity at the platform can hold its ground on terms as well as volume.
