Argenta and Helios partner on curated Lloyd’s syndicate investment strategy

Argenta Private Capital Limited (APCL), an FCA regulated adviser to investors in the Lloyd’s insurance and reinsurance market, has teamed up with Helios Underwriting PLC (Helios), an AIM listed investment company, on a unique, curated structure for investors to access the returns of the Lloyd’s of London market.

In an exclusive arrangement with Helios, Argenta Private Capital clients will be able to participate in the returns of a portfolio of syndicates at Lloyd’s.

Those syndicates will be curated by Helios’ CEO Martin Reith, an executive with a long and successful track-record at Lloyd’s and globally within insurance and reinsurance.

The structure, which will be a Members’ Agent Pooling Arrangement (MAPA), means that investors do not need to own the underlying capacity backing the syndicates at Lloyd’s.

A MAPA is an administrative arrangement to allow members at Lloyd’s to spread their risk by underwriting on a pooled basis, with other members, across a large number of syndicates.

In the Argenta and Helios initiative, the selection of syndicates will be underwriting across most lines of business written in the Lloyd’s market.

This is expected to range from from US property and casualty risks, to cyber and satellite exposures.

“Given current market conditions, the portfolio has the potential to generate significant returns,” the companies stated this morning.

They also noted that, “The launch of this product comes at a time when market conditions have been improving for a number of years, and the current returns to investors at Lloyd’s look set to be at 15-year highs.”

Robert Flach, Managing Director of APCL, commented, “Now is the time, given current market conditions, to commit capital to underwriting, rather than buying capacity.”

Kate Tongue, Director of APCL, also said, “We are excited to be working with Helios to provide new and innovative solutions for clients to access capacity.

“Our forecasts for 2023 and 2024 are the strongest for a number of years, which means the opportunity for investors to get involved at Lloyd’s has never been greater. These vehicles are a simple and efficient way for individuals to access Lloyd’s returns for the first time which we believe will be attractive to a wider range of investors.”

Argenta is also going to offer to facilitate a limited number of what it calls “starter homes” for investors, that would come without any exposure to the historic back years that usually come with vehicles for sale.

These have been granted the rights by Helios to participate on a selection of syndicates for 2024 only, Argenta explained, which can allow new investors to participate quickly in the returns of what is expected to be a profitable underwriting year.

Argenta Private Capital said that the expected returns on capital, excluding any returns that might be generated on the capital provided, are around 24% for the 2024 year of account for its clients.

This opportunity could prove very interesting to investors that have looked at Lloyd’s as a potential source for insurance and reinsurance-linked returns, but found the complexities of the market too much for them.

Being able to access the returns of the underwriting of a spread of syndicates in a simpler and more efficient manner could prove very attractive, especially with the syndicates being curated based on performance and opportunity by a recognised industry leader.