Aon bolsters Bermuda retro team, hires former Acacia & Peak Re exec Cheng

Broking giant Aon has strengthened its property specialty retrocession in Bermuda with the addition of five new appointments on the island, including expertise in collateralized retro structures and transacting with ILS and capital markets, with, we understand, this move bringing onboard Lawrence Cheng, formerly of Acacia Holdings and Peak Re.

The company explained that the move marks an expansion of its Bermuda reinsurance platform, as Aon looks to augment transactional and capital optimisation solutions, while facilitating profitable growth opportunities for its clients.

The new appointments remain subject to Bermuda immigration approvals and this initial addition of five new colleagues in Aon’s Bermuda reinsurance team is expected to be followed by more further talent that Aon hopes to identify in the coming months to bolster capabilities and expertise on the island.

It boosts Aon’s reinsurance strength in Bermuda across the Global Specialty lines of business and particularly in property specialty retrocession.

Further, Aon expects it to expedite the development of its facultative and captive reinsurance platforms on the island as well, aligned with teams in the US and London.

Lawrence Cheng has been hired as a Managing Director, bringing expertise from his more than 8 years at reinsurer Peak Re and more recently from his time spent as CUO at Acacia Holdings Ltd, a specialist collateralized reinsurance and retrocession investment company that was backed by private equity specialist Oaktree Capital Management, L.P.

Cheng had also been a driving force in Peak Re’s move into insurance-linked securities (ILS) management when it acquired Lutece and rebranded it as Peak Capital.

Cheng also led Peak Re’s development of third-party capital vehicles, including its Lion Rock sidecar structure.

The other four appointments are all internal Global Specialty broker moves, Aon told us, including the appointments of:

Jemma Henry – Managing Director.
Libby Sargent – Vice President.
George Burles – Vice President.
Sonal Ohrie – Vice President.

These new Bermuda Global Specialty team members will report to James Ramamurthy, head of Global ReSpecialty Bermuda at Aon, with Ramamurthy reporting to Roman Romeo, CEO of Reinsurance Solutions Bermuda for Aon.

Romeo commented, “Through this scaled and highly-engaged team, we are increasing the scope of our Bermuda operations and positioning in the market as the leading destination for Aon’s Bermuda-domiciled reinsurance clients, who now have access to even more capabilities, both locally and through Aon’s global network.”

Rupert Moore, UK CEO of Reinsurance Solutions for Aon, added, “Aon’s London and New York reinsurance teams will continue to collaborate closely with our Bermuda colleagues to deliver additional value to clients. This is another example of how we are creating inclusive, collaborative, and proactive teams across our global operations, who are growth oriented, and are shaping better decisions for our clients.”