Bishop Street Underwriters announces strategic joint venture
Sep 04, 2024 [Insurance Business] - Multi-boutique insurance platform Bishop Street Underwriters has partnered with Skyward Specialty Insurance Group in a strategic joint venture.
Backed by RedBird Capital Partners, Bishop Street focuses on acquiring and nurturing managing general agents, combining their established reputations with top-tier resources, capital, and expertise to build a platform for accelerated growth. The company has already completed multiple deals and anticipates several more by year-end.
The joint venture with Skyward Specialty is designed to enhance Bishop Street’s capacity to bolster MGAs by expanding existing programs, launching new products, and supporting underwriting team transitions. The efforts will benefit from Skyward Specialty’s preferred admitted and E&S (excess and surplus) capacity.
The new collaboration builds on Bishop Street’s earlier joint venture with Topsail Reinsurance. Both partnerships bring together complementary underwriting and market expertise, enabling Bishop Street to leverage capacity as a valuable asset for its platform partners.
Commenting on the deal, Chad Weber, president of Bishop Street, stated: “Establishing this partnership with a rapidly growing leader like Skyward Specialty is an important milestone for Bishop Street. As we continue to grow our platform, our ability to provide preferred primary insurance capacity sets us apart as a key differentiator both for existing and future MGA partners.”
Bishop Street chief executive Chad Levine added: “Our focus is on building a connected ecosystem of diversified MGAs, each with best-in-class underwriting, supported by data-driven infrastructure, unique access to capacity and distribution. The complementary expertise of our partners solidifies Bishop Street as the preferred home for diverse specialty MGAs in the industry.”
Andrew Robinson, chairman and CEO of Skyward Specialty, emphasized the strategic alignment of the partnership, saying: “Our collaboration with Chad, Bishop Street, and RedBird is rooted in a shared commitment to offering tailored insurance solutions that address the specialized needs of the markets we serve.”