AXA XL’s reinsurance operation has completed the acquisition of all third party ownership interests in its majority-owned asset management affiliate, New Ocean Capital Management Ltd.

New Ocean is now a wholly owned subsidiary within AXA XL’s alternative capital business, under the leadership of Daniel Brookman, AXA XL’s head of Alternative Capital.

Chris McKeown, who was the founding CEO of New Ocean, will continue to serve as an adviser to AXA XL’s alternative capital business for a transitionary period, and will also serve as a director of certain New Ocean managed funds.

“Alternative capital is a core component of our strategy, as we seek to create strategic partnerships matching the risks we initiate with third party capital alongside our own,” said Greg Hendrick, CEO of AXA XL.

“Our decision to acquire the outstanding shares of New Ocean demonstrates our strategic commitment to the alternative capital space and represents the latest step towards becoming the partner of choice for investors seeking to access re/insurance risk globally,” he added.

“We’d especially like to thank Chris whose dedication and 30 years of experience helped launch and grow New Ocean and bring it to this point where we can start our next chapter in alternative capital management,” Hendrick said.

Under this structure, the alternative capital business will offer investors insurance-linked-securities (ILS) asset management as well as fronting activities and insurance management services for transacting business through AXA XL’s balance sheet, said Charles Cooper, head of AXA XL’s global reinsurance operations,

“As a key source of risk origination for our alternative capital activities lie within our reinsurance operations, Dan [Brookman] will join our global reinsurance leadership team. The new alignment will help accelerate our alternative capital activity and provide greater flexibility for our underwriters and ultimately our brokers and clients,” Cooper added.

Brookman joined AXA XL in early 2016 as senior vice president of alternative capital and was promoted to lead the team in 2017.

Founded in July 2013, New Ocean provided the opportunity for AXA XL to partner with leading private equity fund, Stone Point Capital, and later with Japanese conglomerate, Mitsui & Co. Ltd., to develop an ILS fund manager platform serving institutional investors seeking access to opportunities across the reinsurance industry, explained AXA XL in a statement.

New Ocean has been successful in attracting capital from major institutional investors for products which are directly aligned with AXA XL’s global underwriting franchise, it continued, noting that success has been achieved in the property catastrophe, specialty and whole account lines of business.

Source: AXA XL

*This story ran previously in our sister publication Insurance Journal.