PwC’s annual review of non-life run-off deals found an increase in publicly announced deals in 2019 compared to 2018, with deals jumping from 32 to 48.
Of the 48 deals, totalling $10.5 billion, nine were captives, 28 were (re)insurers, two were corporates and the other nine were Lloyd’s.
In the report, PwC said that the market had seen “another busy year” with a number of new entrants completing deals and incumbent increasing activity levels to “new highs”.
The UK and Ireland dominated deal activity in 2019 both by volume and values, driven in part by the Lloyd’s run-off deals. In total the UK and Ireland saw 18 deals with an estimated gross liabilities totalling $4.6 billion with approximately $2.4 billion coming from Lloyd’s.
Although Continental Europe did see an increase in activity, the region still remained low compared to the rest of the world at $0.6 billion. The review found that the Asia Pacific region outpaced Continental Europe in terms of deal values (though not volumes).
North America saw a decrease in the volume of publicly announced deals from last year. According to the report, this is due to the lower number of deals being publicly reported rather than a lower number of deals being created. The region had 17 deals that totalled to $3.7 billion estimated gross liabilities.
The report also showed that there were four deals in the rest of the world, which totalled $1.6 billion of estimated gross liabilities.
Looking ahead to 2020, the report noted there would be a continued focus on the Lloyd’s legacy market following syndicate run-off announcements and new entrants able to provide legacy solutions.
It also said to look out for the completion of the first US Insurance Business Transfers under Oklahoma legislation.
Finally, it also suggested an expansion of deals outside of the traditional US and European markets following a number of completed deals in Asia Pacific.
