Reinsurer makes executive changes after M&A deal closes

PartnerRe Ltd. made a few executive-level shuffles Wednesday, marking the close of a December 2021 deal in which Covéa agreed to buy Partner Re from Exor for $9 billion in cash.

Thierry Derez, CEO of Covéa Group, is replacing Brian Dowd as chairman of PartnerRe board. Dowd will remain on the board as an independent director, along with existing independent directors Mary Ann Brown and Hermann Pohlchristoph.

PartnerRe president and CEO Jacques Bonneau will also remain on the board.

Enrico Vellano and António Horta-Osório both resigned from the board, in connection with the close of the sale.

Joining PartnerRe’s board are Maud Petit, chief financial officer and deputy CEO of Covéa Group, and Thierry Francq, general manager for transformation and international activities at Covéa Group.

Petit, who brings more than 25 years of experience in the re/insurance industry, was named CFO and deputy CEO of Covéa Group in 2018.

Francq, former general secretary of the French Financial Markets Supervisory Authority, joined Covéa in 2018 as chief of staff to the chairman and CEO. He was then appointed general manager of strategy and transformation in December 2019 and then group general manager for transformation and international activities in 2020.

Covéa is a leading French mutual insurer. It acquired PartnerRe from Exor, a diversified holding company controlled by the Agnelli family. PartnerRe, a global reinsurer, has $9 billion in capital, 17 office locations (including in Toronto) and more than 1,200 employees worldwide.

A December 2021 media release announcing the PartnerRe acquisition noted, following the close of the deal, “Exor and Covéa will continue their reinsurance cooperation, with Exor acquiring from Covéa interests in special purpose reinsurance vehicles managed by PartnerRe for approximately $725 million.

“Covéa, Exor and PartnerRe will also continue to invest jointly in Exor-managed funds with reinforced alignment of interests.”

Feature photo courtesy of iStock.com/JohnnyGreig