Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance is expanding into Europe, and two men – veteran executives from Lloyd’s and Marsh – will lead the effort.

Plans call for BHSI to operate in Europe as part of affiliate Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance Ltd., subject to regulatory approval. Tom Bolt and Gregor Koehler will be in charge, as president, UK and Southern Europe, and president, Northern Europe, respectively.

Bolt, who will take on his new role as of June 1, will also become CEO of Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance Limited. As well, Bolt and Koehler are to be named board members with Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance Ltd.

Before Berkshire Hathaway/BHSI, Bolt was most recently director of performance management at Lloyd’s. His past career also includes a stint as managing director of Marlborough Managing Agency. But he also spent 25 years at Berkshire Hathaway Group in a number of leadership roles, including senior vice president of the reinsurance division at managing director of Tenecom and BHIIL. He’ll be based in London.

Koehler brings 30 years of insurance and risk management experience to the table, most recently as president and CEO of Pallas Versicherung, AG, Bayer Group’s global insurance division. Before this, he was senior vice president at Marsh, Inc., and also managing director, corporate risk management and insurance at Bertelsmann AG, a global media and services company.

Koehler will be based in BHSI’s new Duesseldorf, Germany office.

Peter Eastwood, BHSI’s president and CEO, said in prepared remarks that “establishing European capabilities is a natural next step in the maturation of BHSI.”

Both Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance Ltd. and BHSI are part of Berkshire Hathaway’s National Indemnity group of insurance companies.

Source: Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance