RQIH Ltd : Expansion of Syndicate 1991

Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings Ltd

("Randall & Quilter" or the "Company")

Expansion of Syndicate 1991 for 2014 Underwriting Year

06 December 2013

Randall & Quilter is pleased to announce that its business plan for the 2014 underwriting year of account for its first party syndicate, DTW 1991 was recently approved by Lloyd's. This plan involves a near doubling of capacity to £150m from the £76m of capacity agreed for the 2013 underwriting year and is in line with the 3 year plan agreed with Lloyd's at the outset. In addition, the capital to support the much expanded 2014 year of account capacity has successfully been secured. 

Encouragingly there has been strong support from private capital through the members' agents, with this source of capacity now representing some £60m of the whole. This is in accordance with our original intention of providing an attractive new underwriting opportunity for private capital at Lloyd's.

Existing third party corporate capital providers have also taken up their full pre-emption rights and a new corporate capital provider, Q Re, has been introduced for 2014, further diversifying the syndicate's capital base. Q-Re is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qatar Insurance Company (QIC), is regulated by the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority and is "A" rated by S&P and AM Best.

Randall & Quilter, through its wholly owned Bermuda based reinsurer and corporate member, has increased its underwriting participation on s.1991 to £30m for 2014 and remains the lead capital provider, supporting 20% of capacity.

Ken Randall, Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of R&Q commenting on the outcome stated;

"We are delighted to have had the syndicate's substantial growth plans for 2014 approved by Lloyd's and to have had excellent support from the existing capital providers. Introducing Q Re as a new investor is further testament to the strength of the s.1991 proposition. We believe this diverse capital base is a considerable asset which will help the syndicate's continuing development in years to come.

"As highlighted previously, whilst earned premium development on an accounting basis lags initial expectations due to the timing in signing up the underlying MGAs, expected ultimate premium income, on a Lloyd's year of account basis, remains close to plan and hence the growth of the syndicate remains firmly on track."

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Enquiries to:

Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings Ltdwww.rqih.com

Tom Booth                                                                          Tel: +00 1 441 247 8330

Numis Securities Limited

Stuart Skinner (Nominated Adviser)                                   Tel: 020 7260 1000

Charles Farquhar (Broker)                                                 Tel: 020 7260 1000

Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited

Dru Danford/Stephane Auton                                             Tel: 020 7408 4090

FTI Consulting                                                                          

Edward Berry Tom Blackwell                                          Tel: 020 7269 7297 7222

Notes to Editors:

About R&Q

Since formation, Randall & Quilter has pursued a buy and build strategy to create a comprehensive range of investment activities and services in the global non-life insurance market and is focused on the following three core areas:

·     Insurance Investments;

·     Insurance Services; and

·     Underwriting Management

The Group:

·     provides a range of services to both the live and legacy (re)insurance markets to support growing businesses and address problematic run-off issues.

·     has a team of up to 400 insurance professionals based in the UK, USA, Bermuda, and Continental Europe with wide service capability in both the 'live' and 'run-off' market;

·     has a current portfolio of 14 insurance companies and captives in run-off (from the UK, US and Continental Europe) with net assets of c.£96.4m as at 30 June 2013

·     owns a Bermuda Class 3A insurance company which currently supports the Group's four syndicate participations;

·     has launched Syndicate 1991 which commenced underwriting from January 1, 2013 with a Capacity of £150m for 2014, provides 'turnkey' management services to Lloyd's syndicate 1897, manages two RITC ('run-off') syndicates and owns and operates 3 MGA business units; and

·     acquires and manages a portfolio of insurance receivables, with a carrying cost of c. £8.9m as at 30 June 2013;

The Group was founded by Ken Randall, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive, and Alan Quilter, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Group Chief Executive.