REG - B.P. Marsh &Partners - Investment – Ai Marine Risk Limited

B.P. Marsh & PartnersAnnouncement

03/01/2024 09:30

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RNS Number : 5165Y  B.P. Marsh & Partners PLC  03 January 2024

3 January 2024

 

B.P. Marsh & Partners Plc

("B.P. Marsh", "the Company" or "the Group")

 

Investment - Ai Marine Risk Limited

 

B.P. Marsh and Partners Plc (AIM:BPM), the specialist private equity investor
in early stage financial services businesses is pleased to announce that it
has acquired a 30% Cumulative Preferred Ordinary shareholding in Ai Marine
Risk Limited ("Ai Marine"), a London-based Managing General Agency ("MGA").

 

B.P. Marsh has agreed to provide up to £1.6m of funding via a mixture of
equity and a loan facility, which will be partially drawn down upon
completion. As part of this transaction, Abi Benson, an Investment Director
and Executive Director of B.P. Marsh & Company Ltd, will be the nominee
Non-Executive Director on the Board of Ai Marine.

 

Ai Marine specialises in Marine Hull insurance and will underwrite a global
portfolio of business with a strong focus on the UK & Europe, Middle East
and Asia-Pacific regions, and has been established by Tom Fulford-Smith and
Charles D'Alton.

 

With the support of B.P. Marsh, Ai Marine's Management intends to build a
market-leading, client-centric marine MGA. The business is headquartered in
London, with a distribution centre in Scandinavia, with the aim to deliver
risk solutions to a global portfolio of marine clients.

 

Ai Marine has secured A-rated capacity from a number of carriers, with the
delivery of long-term profitability and sustainability for its
insurer/reinsurer partners being a central part of Ai Marine's business plan.

 

The Co-founders, Tom Fulford-Smith and Charles D'Alton are experienced marine
insurance specialists with a track record of delivering growth. Tom started
his career in 2001 as a marine insurance broker at Willis before heading to
Hong Kong to join FP Marine in 2007. He was appointed Head of Marine for
Cooper Gay Hong Kong in 2011. Charles started his career in 2006 as a
shipbroker at Maersk Broker before joining the Standard Club in 2009 where he
was made Underwriting Director for the Club's Asia Pacific syndicate. In
2014, Tom and Charles founded Latitude Brokers Limited, a marine insurance
brokerage with offices in Hong Kong and Singapore which they led for 8 years.
Following the sale of Latitude to Filhet Allard Maritime (Bordeaux), Tom and
Charles left the company to establish Ai Marine where they will draw on their
strong networks within the global ship-owning and insurance broking
communities to drive profitable growth.

 

Jonny Moss joins Ai Marine as Chief Underwriting Officer, having most recently
held the position of Senior Underwriter at Norwegian Hull Club's London
office. A Naval Architect by training, Jonny started in the marine insurance
sector with XL Catlin in 2016 having previously worked for five years in the
maritime defence sector on the design and consultancy of submarines and
warships.

 

Dan Topping, Chief Investment Officer of the Company, commenting on this
investment, stated:-

 

"We are very pleased to be making this investment in Ai Marine and are looking
forward to working with Tom and Charles, to enable Ai Marine to deliver
substantial growth and robust results over the coming years."

 

Charles D'Alton and Tom Fulford-Smith, Co-founders of Ai Marine, commented:-

 

"We are excited to enter into this partnership with B.P. Marsh. They are a
strong team with a proven record of sound investments and sustainable
strategic partnerships.

 

With their support, we look forward to achieving our long-term goals".

 

 

For further
information:

 

 B.P. Marsh & Partners Plc                                            www.bpmarsh.co.uk (http://www.bpmarsh.co.uk/)
 Brian Marsh OBE                                                      +44 (0)20 7233 3112

 Nominated Adviser & Broker

 Panmure Gordon
 Atholl Tweedie / Stephen Jones / Amrit Mahbubani / Ailsa MacMaster   +44 (0)20 7886 2500

 Financial PR & Investor Relations
 Tavistock                                                            bpmarsh@tavistock.co.uk
 Simon Hudson / Tim Pearson / Katie Hopkins                           +44 (0)20 7920 3150

 

 

Notes to Editors:

B.P. Marsh's current portfolio contains fifteen companies. More detailed
descriptions of the portfolio can be found at www.bpmarsh.co.uk
(http://www.bpmarsh.co.uk/) .

 

Since formation over 30 years ago, the Company has assembled a management team
with considerable experience both in the financial services sector and in
managing private equity investments. Many of the directors have worked with
each other in previous roles, and all have worked with each other for
approaching ten years.

 

- Ends -

 

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