Heritage Group acquires Heath Lambert captive operation

16/09/2009

Heritage Group has announced the acquisition of Heath Lambert’s captive management operations.

Heritage Insurance Management (HIM) will now have 150+ clients throughout Europe, making it one of the largest European independent captive managers.

“It’s a leap ahead in our key independent status,” said Charles Allen, chief executive of HIM.

“Whilst the Heath Lambert insurance management operation is relatively small compared to Heritage, it provides an excellent fit in terms of their approach, people and client base.”

In a press release, Heritage said it has acquired the whole of the issued share capital of the Heath Lambert captive management operations in Guernsey and Malta.

Allen said the combination of Heritage and Heath Lambert’s Malta offices would also establish HIM as a substantial operator in the Malta captive sector. Derek Douglas is to move from Heritage’s London office to head up the combined Malta operation.

Merise Wheatley, managing director of Heath Lambert’s captive management operation in Guernsey, is to take up the role of client accounting director for HIM in Guernsey and will join the HIM executive board.

Allen said the addition of Heath Lambert’s captive personnel is a key benefit of the acquisition and he welcomed Wheatley to HIM. “She’s a big plus for us,” he said.

Wheatley said she has known the Heritage management team since she first moved to Guernsey 16 years ago and is “very excited about the move”.

“The two companies culturally a very good fit and we are very happy with the match as it gives us a bigger spread of domiciles,” she said.

Wheatley added that her team would continue working with the Heath Lambert group as approximately half of their captive clients are still Heath Lambert broking clients.

“We work with many brokers on this basis,” said Allen. “Essentially Heath Lambert have outsourced their captive management service to Heritage.”

Allen confirmed that all of Heath Lambert’s clients will be managed by Heritage and said there would be “an uninterrupted service for Heath Lambert clients, but with the additional resources of Heritage”.

“What we’re keen to avoid is the separation of different groups in the office – the kind of ‘them and us’ situation you get in companies like Aon,” said Allen.

Heritage Group also confirmed the termination of their licensing agreement with Heritage Kane (now Kane Group) by mutual agreement, saying: “This termination reflects the different strategic objectives of each company.”

Heritage Kane established new captive operations in the Middle East with the licensing of Heritage Insurance Management (Bahrain) in November 2008 and Heritage Insurance Management (Dubai) in April 2009.

Allen said that HIM has no captive ambitions currently in the Middle East region, however, and would probably pass off any opportunities to the Kane Group. “They’ve gone their way and we’ve gone ours,” he said.

In a separate statement, Richard Tee, chief executive of Heritage Group said: “This acquisition fits with our growth strategy in both Guernsey and Malta and adds to the skills that we can provide clients in the specialist field of captive insurance management.

“While this acquisition has no effect on Heritage’s independence, it does add significantly to our blue chip client portfolio and confirms Heritage as one of the largest independent captive managers globally.”

Alan Pratten, managing director of Retail Clients and Development at Heath Lambert said: “This deal is an excellent example of how Heath Lambert is working with its strategic business partners to evolve its client offering.

“Working with Heritage allows both parties to maximise their skills, enhance the range of technical, insurance and financial management resources, plus add real value to the international client base.”