Augment launched as bespoke reinsurance broker with up to $100m backing from Altamont

A new, bespoke risk capital and reinsurance solutions broker called Augment has been launched to “revolutionize insurance risk arbitrage,” and is backed with up to $100 million in funding from private equity firm, Altamont Capital Partners.

Augment states that its goal is to assist partners in managing volatility via strategic, structurally efficient, multi-class and/or multi-geography transactions.

The London-based broker operates globally and sees a gap in the reinsurance market for writing complex contracts, noting the shifting reinsurance environment characterised by increasingly complex risks, macroeconomic uncertainty, and the evolving regulatory landscape.

Although headquartered in London, Augment has a global reach and scale, and creates bespoke solutions across geographies and product lines, utilising “multiple strategies designed to work in lockstep.”

Alex Kazanjian, Managing Director, Augment, commented, “Augment was founded because we believed that by taking a holistic approach to our partners’ needs — broking the entire client, rather than any single class of business — we could unlock unprecedented opportunities for growth. Focusing on establishing long term relationships with our clients, rather than on their product, enables us to deliver the creative approaches today’s market needs.”

The reinsurance broker says that it is strategically positioned to serve a wide range of clients around the world. The firm offers a range of strategies, although reinsurance is at the heart of its approach.

Augment both designs and places innovative protections for clients, including prospective reinsurance and retrospective capital and legacy structures, for property and casualty clients with a focus on “maximizing enterprise value.”

Sam Gaynor, Managing Director, Altamont, said, “Augment’s strategy is a perfect match for Altamont’s insurance investing focus. They’ve identified a clear market need to help their P&C customers address the most complex risk capital challenges in the most efficient manner, and we’re excited to lend platform-formation capabilities to form a brokerage firm perfectly suited to today’s market dynamics.”

“Augment is the latest example of de novo platform formation in Financial Services, something we’ve successfully done five times previously at Altamont. With our over $4.3 billion of capital under management, we look forward to bringing substantial resources to bear to aid in Augment’s success,” added Keoni Schwartz, Managing Director at Altamont.

Joe Zuk, Operating Partner, Altamont, noted, “We’re thrilled to back Augment, whose strategic solutions address the most complex business challenges faced by its P&C industry partners.”

Based in the San Francisco bay area, Altamont is a private equity firm with more than $4.3 billion of capital under management.

The backing of Augment follows its acquisition of a majority stake in, and a $150 million growth capital commitment to Fleming Holdings last year.