Willis Re has completed its acquisition of BMS Re US, securing its first operational foothold in the world’s largest insurance market and restoring a capital markets capability the broker has not held since 2021.
The deal, announced in August and closed November 1, covers BMS Intermediaries Inc., BMS Capital Advisory LLC, and the BMS Re team based in London that served US clients. Financial terms were not disclosed. BMS Group retains its UK, Latin America, Bermuda, and global facultative operations.
The strategic weight of the transaction sits with BMS Capital Advisory, a unit that has structured catastrophe bonds, reinsurance sidecars, and other insurance-linked securities (ILS) placements, including US Coastal’s Chartwell Re catastrophe bond and the Fractal Re sidecar for Starwind. The unit also brings with it the licences required to arrange and deal in ILS instruments. Willis Re has not held that capability since Willis Re Securities, its original capital markets and cat bond structuring arm, was sold to Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. as part of WTW’s US$3.25 billion upfront divestiture in 2021.
On the broking side, BMS Re US brings six offices across New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Dallas, along with an established client base spanning regional and super-regional carriers, managing general agents, and programs. Its book covers property catastrophe, medical malpractice, and workers’ compensation, lines that extend Willis Re’s capability in US casualty beyond its current specialty-focused profile.
Willis Re was relaunched in late 2024 as a joint venture between WTW and Bain Capital, two years after WTW exited treaty reinsurance broking through the Gallagher sale. The broker has grown primarily through talent recruitment since then, drawing approximately 80 professionals from Guy Carpenter, according to court filings and published reports. That campaign produced a UK High Court judgment in February 2026 finding that two former Guy Carpenter executives had improperly assisted the hiring push before resigning. The BMS Re US acquisition is its first major deal since relaunch.
The market Willis Re is entering is heavily concentrated. The High Court judgment in February 2026 noted that Willis Re “is more likely to be a competitor to the small (‘challenger’) brokers” than to Guy Carpenter or Aon, a frank acknowledgment of how far the market’s power is concentrated at the top. Without a US platform, Willis Re could realistically serve international cedants but had no direct route into the domestic carriers, regional mutuals, and program writers that generate a substantial portion of US reinsurance demand. BMS Re US provides that infrastructure without the years it would take to build organically.
The broker has since moved quickly on leadership. In September, Willis Re announced the appointment of Neil Eckert, co-founder and CEO of Conduit Re, as its first global chief executive since relaunch. Eckert, who began his career as a reinsurance broker at Benfield Group in 1986, brings experience across broking, underwriting, and capital raising. He is expected to join after stepping down from Conduit Re on March 1, 2027. As part of a broader multi-line expansion, Willis Re also launched a life reinsurance practice earlier this year, combining its broking platform with WTW’s insurance consulting and technology business.
The completion of the BMS Re US acquisition, combined with a named CEO and an expanding product range, means Willis Re enters the January 2027 renewal season as a more complete operation than it was twelve months ago, with US distribution, capital markets access, and a leadership structure to execute on both.
