Vantage’s $100mn-capitalised E&S company gets A- rating

AM Best has assigned an A- (Excellent) financial strength rating to Vantage Risk Specialty Insurance Company, which was acquired to write excess and surplus lines business in the US for the Greg Hendrick-led Vantage Group Holdings.

Vantage Risk Specialty has also been assigned a long-term issuer credit rating of “a-” (Excellent), with all ratings having stable outlooks.

AM Best said that the acquisition of an E&S company was part of the group’s business plan since the onset of operations.

“While the group is still in the process of hiring some key executive positions for primary insurance lines, many of the executive staff have experience managing similar types of operations at other large companies,” the ratings agency said.

According to AM Best, Vantage Group Holdings injected roughly $85mn into Chicago-based Vantage Risk Specialty upon closing of the acquisition, bringing the total capitalisation to $100mn.

In addition, the ratings agency said the subsidiary “will benefit from common management, branding and financial flexibility of the greater Vantage Group Holdings Ltd”.

The ratings reflect Vantage Risk Specialty’s balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

The ratings are the same as those assigned in November last year to Bermuda-based (re)insurance subsidiary Vantage Risk Ltd.

Vantage Group Holdings officially launched in December 2020, with former Axa XL CEO Hendrick as CEO and former Arch CEO Dinos Iordanou as non-executive chairman. It was set up with $1bn of capital in an investment led by private equity firms The Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman.

The company has been busy making hires on both the insurance and reinsurance sides of the business.

However, as revealed by this publication earlier this month, global insurance CEO Jack Kuhn has left the start-up. Hendrick will serve as the interim head of insurance while continuing to lead the firm.

Kuhn said that after spending the past eight months helping to build Vantage’s insurance platform, he had made the “difficult decision” to step down and focus on other opportunities “both personally and professionally”.