Mereo finalising equity and ILS fund investor backing, set to launch for 1/1

Mereo Insurance, the Bermuda-based re/insurance start-up that counts former AIG CEO Brian Duperreault as its Chairman, has a strategy to work closely with third-party capital investors, is expected to be up and running for 1/1, with equity and seed capital being finalized for its first insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund, Artemis has learned.

Mereo Insurance has been some time in the making, but the details are now being put into place for what should be a meaningful launch, with the company set to follow the expected balance-sheet agnostic approach to utilising institutional investor capital alongside its own equity. We’ve learned that Mereo is finalizing its capital base to get up and running for 1/1.

With Duperreault as Chairman, the company has a huge depth of expertise in the founding team and has all the gravitas it will need to enter the market and make its mark.

The ILS fund strategy has been developed with the goal to compound returns for its investors, while mitigating risk to capital, sources explained.

The Mereo team sees the current market opportunity as particularly attractive, making for a good entry point in 2025. Appleby, Wilkie Farr and SRS are acting as advisors to Mereo.

In addition, the Mereo ILS fund strategy will look to access returns from attractive opportunities available in ILS, leaning on the experience and origination access of its team including to off-market investments, to invest in direct insurance, reinsurance, retrocession and catastrophe bond instruments.

There is little to be said about Brian Dupperreault that hasn’t been said before, his track-record speaks for itself and as Chairman his leadership will open doors for Mereo as it develops.

David Croom-Johnson, the former Aegis London CEO, is set to be CEO and CUO of Mereo Insurance, while Richard Holden, the former CUO of Fidelis’ Bermuda arm and its Global CEO of Reinsurance takes on the CUO position at Mereo ILS and DCUO of Mereo Insurance.

Lawrence Minicone, a former Head of Research at hedge fund Tekmerion and previously Bridgewater, will be the CIO for the Mereo re/insurance arm as well.

On the ILS side of the business, well-known executive Neil Strong will be the CEO of Mereo ILS. His background as CEO of IQUW ILS Ltd, before that Securis Investment Partners and earlier Execution Noble has seen him involved in numerous capital raising exercises, while he also has an origination background from earlier reinsurance broking.

Derek Walsh, who was most recently a co-founder at the Oaktree backed collateralized reinsurer, Acacia Holdings, and before that JLT Group will be the Mereo General Counsel.

Federico Waisman will be Chief Analytics and Risk Officer for the company, bringing a strong background from his days at IQUW, Ariel Re, Goldman Sachs and Swiss Re.

Jason Miller has joined to lead commercial efforts, bringing an investment management and capital raising relationship management background from BlackRock.

Jonathan Reiss takes on the interim CFO role at Mereo, all the while still maintaining his seat at Strategic Risk Solutions (SRS).

We understand there are more names joining Mereo over the coming months, with a number of other key positions having had their candidates identified, including within the Mereo ILS Fund.

Mereo looks set to embrace a uniquely aligned model, alignment between its equity capital investors and those in the ILS funds, taking the best from traditional and alternative reinsurance worlds to maximise capital efficiencies and ultimately deliver the returns backers want to see.

It’s a clearly thought through strategy that should deliver benefits on the partner side too, as cedents are sure to appreciate the ability to access multiple capital types through a single platform, especially with the benefits of internal fronting leverage and features that make for greater and closer alignment between risk capital and risk cedent.

The ILS fund offering should be compelling to investors, while the names set to work there are also going to be an attraction for both clients and capital, which should enable Mereo to get deployed relatively easily and start proving out its business model with its first portfolio of risk.