XL Catlin appoints Simon Price as Head of M&A, Insurance, EMEA

London, UK - January 09, 2018

XL Catlin’s insurance operations have appointed Simon Price to the position of Head of Mergers and Acquisitions, Insurance, EMEA. Based in London, Mr. Price has 17 years of transactional experience and will be responsible for all of XL Catlin’s EMEA business, including all international business placed through the London market.

Mr. Price joined XL Catlin from Marsh’s Private Equity and M&A practice. Most recently, he led Marsh’s UK transaction risk team in London and was business development leader and legal advisor to their wider EMEA team. Prior to that, Mr. Price spent 10 years in private legal practice in London, working at city law firms Macfarlanes and Davies Arnold Cooper. He remains a qualified English solicitor.

In addition, Richard Belsey has joined as an underwriter also based in London. Mr. Belsey is also a qualified English solicitor, who most recently served as a Corporate Senior Associate at London city law firm Wedlake Bell LLP. He has worked on and led a number of UK and international M&A deals, with a particular focus on corporate real estate transactions and Germany. Richard brings more than 10 years of transactional legal experience, gained at city law firms SJ Berwin LLP, Farrer & Co and Wedlake Bell LLP.

Commenting, Brian Benjamin, Global Head of M&A, said: “Today, global M&A activity is on the increase and the demand for insurance coverage is also on the rise.”

Noting the demand for coverage, Mr. Benjamin said: “The value of M&A deals is expected to exceed USD $3 trillion in 2018. Activity in the first quarter of 2018 is predicted to be higher than in the comparable period in 2017. We also expect the expansion of the M&A transactional risk insurance market to continue. In this very competitive environment, deal professionals and their brokers across the world are looking for innovative solutions to support their acquisitions or sales.”

Mr Benjamin continued: “We are excited to have this team in place in London and welcome the deep transactional experience that Simon and Richard bring to our expanding platform.”