Gbli’s Reddy And Sayata’s Lifshitz Say Acquisition Cements $400 Million Tech: driven MGA

Global Indemnity LLC

18/09/2025 19:40

By James Thaler

Sept 18 - (The Insurer) – Global Indemnity’s MGA platform is building scale across wholesale, retail and direct-to-consumer channels through organic launches, MGA acquisitions and technology integration, Penn-America Underwriters CEO Praveen Reddy and Sayata CEO Asaf Lifshitz told The Insurer this week.

Penn-America's acquisition of Sayata, meanwhile, provided a cyber distribution edge and opened the door to new product lines, they said during an interview at this week’s WSIA Annual Marketplace in San Diego.

Reddy said Global Indemnity's Penn-America has been executing “Project Manifest” to carve out and consolidate its MGA business, splitting the operations from its balance sheet companies.

Global Indemnity's platform now houses three MGAs, a proprietary tech shop – Kaleidoscope Technologies – an in-house claims entity and, with Sayata, six units in total.

Reddy said the agenda is fourfold: “One, grow the organic component of the business. Number two, improve the efficiency of what we have. Number three, launch and incubate new products, new platforms … And number four, inorganic growth.”

The group plans to “fire on all those four cylinders” with future “optionality to do something with the MGA business broadly,” he added.

On scale, Reddy pointed to filings: “All in, including the premium we acquired through Sayata, it’s around $400-plus million in GWP.”

He stressed there was “no retrenchment on any of the programs,” with growth across wholesale, retail and direct-to-consumer channels.

Lifshitz said Sayata had reshaped operations in 2024 to become leaner and boost margins.

“We felt that it’s a good home and shareholder … very aligned, very insurance expertise, patient and … willing to make the necessary investments,” he said.

He highlighted the importance of alignment and synergies.

“You want synergies … how we can help Penn-America and the support, beyond the financial support, that we can get … to continue to build Sayata.”

He added that channel conflict risk was a key factor and that if a wholesaler had acquired Sayata, the other wholesalers "might have turned," while a market dominant cyber carrier owner could have complicated carrier retention.

On Sayata’s economics, Lifshitz emphasized profitability. “Sayata makes money on definitely all brokers, if not all policies,” he said, noting that performance has improved as the model matured.

Reddy said the acquisition delivers both revenue and technology upside.

“We get access to a very strong technology team,” he said, calling Sayata’s storefront “accretive for us with existing technology.”

The combination should “get to the market faster and drive more business, but drive efficient business,” including lower-touch workflows for small commercial.

The deal also provides entry into cyber without overlap. “We as a company before Sayata, we don’t write cyber,” Reddy said, adding: “Sayata will continue to operate with their carrier base, and we’ll add on more products into the mix".

On capacity strategy, Reddy said: “The MGA today is majority GBLI affiliated balance sheets ... we look to mix and match … bring in more and more non-affiliated capacity, but at the same time, we will have affiliated capacity participate to effectively show their faith in the underwriting or talent that we’ll bring on board.”

Integration will be deliberately light. “It’s going to be largely a standalone company operating under its own brand name,” Reddy said, with only “very light” shared services. Sayata has about “under 20” people, Lifshitz confirmed, and when asked if he’s staying on: “Yeah, that’s right.”

Reddy said the pipeline spans organic builds, book rolls and M&A.

“All of the above is a quick answer,” he said. “We’re speaking with quite a few underwriting leaders who want to come in and launch some new programs.”

For Sayata, Lifshitz said Penn-America unlocks faster access to new lines.

“Now we get instant access to a bunch of products … and I think there’s only more that are coming down the pipeline.”

Both executives said early reaction has been constructive. Lifshitz said the response from brokers was “a combination of sigh of relief for some and excitement for us.”