Nine months after launching Orvia as a pan-European MGA platform, Ardonagh is extending the brand across its entire underwriting portfolio worldwide. That move brings more than US$3 billion (around £2.2 billion) in gross written premium under a single identity and signals a structural shift in how the group intends to operate.
The Ardonagh Group announced that Orvia Underwriting will become the umbrella brand for its MGA businesses across Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the Middle East and Africa. Geo Underwriting will become Orvia UK following a transition period in 2027. Envest Agencies, which holds 14 specialist intermediated and direct MGAs across Australia and New Zealand, will rebrand as Orvia Australia and New Zealand. Dubai-based Antarah, an authorised Lloyd’s of London coverholder and reinsurance intermediary, will become Orvia Middle East and Africa.
The consolidation gives brokers dealing with Ardonagh-owned MGAs a single platform identity across niche product lines that have until now sat under separate brands, among them agriculture, construction and renovation, marine, specialist commercial, financial lines, cyber, and political risk.
Ardonagh has spent the better part of a decade assembling its MGA portfolio through acquisition. The group reported US$2.56 billion (around £1.92 billion) in income for 2025, up 20.4% year on year, with 65% of that generated outside the UK.
Chief executive David Ross has described the Orvia launch as the beginning of a pivot from a regional operating model to a product-led one. “Revealing the scale of our MGA operations worldwide will be the first of a series of changes we will be making as we lean into a different marketplace, one where we can bring our data and placement power into full view of the industry,” he said.
Ardonagh is not entering new markets through Orvia. It is making what it already owns visible as a coherent whole. The pan-European launch of Orvia in January 2026, which brought together Ardonagh-owned MGAs across London and European markets with a combined portfolio exceeding €250 million (around £209.2 million) in gross written premium, set the template. Since then the platform has expanded to the Netherlands, with Globe Underwriting also transitioning to the Orvia brand. The October announcement scales that template globally.
Mark McIlquham has been appointed CEO of Orvia, taking responsibility for the pan-European, UK and Specialty businesses. He joins from Acrisure, where he led the firm’s entry into the UK retail market, building a platform spanning retail broking, MGAs and intermediary network operations across 15 acquisitions. Before Acrisure, he spent more than 20 years at Deloitte, where he was a senior partner and CEO of the firm’s financial services audit and advisory business.
He will work alongside Chris Lay, the former Marsh UK chief executive who joined Ardonagh as operating partner in April 2026.
Conor Geraghty, who led the original Orvia European launch, moves to the newly created role of CEO Orvia Europe and Specialty. Belinda Steedman, who brings three decades of international market experience including senior roles at Aviva and QBE, has been appointed CEO of Orvia Australia and New Zealand, commencing on 2 November. Antonio El Hokayem continues as CEO of Orvia Middle East and Africa, the business formerly known as Antarah. A CEO for Orvia UK has yet to be named.
The appointments are subject to relevant regulatory approvals.
Specialist brands in the UK, including AGRi, Hoxton, Lorega, Navigators and General, and Renovation Underwriting, will continue trading under their current names as part of the Orvia platform. The same applies to the Australian and New Zealand agencies within the Envest Group.
