Japanese insurance SOMPO part of NKSJ Holdings acquires UK reinsurer Canopius Group from Bregal Capital

In order to globalize, Japanese insurance company Sompo Japan (株式会社損害保険ジャパン), part of the insurance group NKSJ Holdings (NKSJホールディングス株式会社, TSE / JPX: No. 8630) announced yesterday the acquisition of 100% of the UK re-insurer Canopius Group Limited, operating on Lloyd’s for UKL 594 million (US$ 972 million), from the current owners. Current majority owner of Canopius is Bregal Capital.

Canopius will keep the brand, company name, and management team.

Canopius: one of the top ten insurers on the Lloyd’s market

Canopius, is an insurance group, one of the top ten insurers in the Lloyd’s market, was founded in December 2003, almost exactly ten years ago, via a Management Buy-Out (MBO) with UKL 25 million capital, which grew about twenty-fold to about UKL 500 million today, and today has about 560 employees.

Canopius is named after Nathaniel Canopius, native of Crete, who studied at Balliol College, Oxford, apparently introduced coffee drinking to Oxford around 1637 (according to the Canopius website), and later became Archbishop of Smyrna (Source: “Anglicans and Orthodox, Unity and Subversion, 1559-1725”, by Judith Pinnington, 2003, ISBN 0-85244-577-6, page 15).

Sources: press announcements by the companies, websites.

Japan to EU investment trend

While European investments in Japan are steady, Japanese corporations are investing heavily in Europe, approximately EURO 10 billion per year, in order to globalize and to expand their global foot print, and to acquire new know-how, which is clearly both the case here.

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