Leading international law firm RPC has advised Optio Group – the speciality insurance MGA – on its acquisition of Northcourt, a leading nuclear risk specialist.

Northcourt – which launched in 2010 – is licensed to underwrite nuclear property and liability risks globally and has clients in Europe, Russia, China, South Africa and Canada, and elsewhere across the world.  The executive management team and staff will all remain with the business.

RPC Partner James Mee led the RPC team on behalf of Optio. Speaking of the deal he said: “We were very pleased to be asked to support on what is a strategically very significant deal for Optio. It has been fascinating from start to finish.

“We have very much enjoyed bringing our experience of M&A in the insurance market to bear as part of the team supporting Optio and wish them every success as they integrate the Northcourt business and its people into their company.”

Matthew Fosh – Executive Chairman at Optio Group – said: “This transaction was strategically critical for Optio. As such, it was equally critical that we worked with advisers who not only understood the law, but also had a rich appreciation of the dynamics of the insurance market and how we operate. I’ve known James and the RPC team for a good many years and it was great to work together on this.”

The Optio transaction follows other announced insurance deals handled by RPC in 2021, many of which are private equity/financial-sponsor backed.

The team handled more than 20 insurance market transactional mandates in 2020, and 2021 has started equally busy. Recent deals include:

transactions for Howden Group, including Howden Broking’s acquisition of Sturge Taylor and DUAL’s MGU relationship with the Dale syndicate (with Aviva capacity)

assisting Assured Partners with its UK acquisition strategy, the most recent deal being the acquisition of Borland Insurance

the launch of the Mosaic Lloyd’s syndicate (backed by Golden Gate Capital), a next generation global specialty insurance platform

the strategic partnership between the fast growing Beat Capital Partners and Bain Capital Credit, involving capital for Lloyd’s syndicate 4242

together with various legacy transactions such as RITCs and LPTs as well as two potential syndicate deals and a number of re-financings.

 RPC’s corporate insurance team is recognised as a market-leading advisor. In 2020, the team acted for Beat Capital Partners on its strategic partnership with Bain Capital Credit, another significant Lloyd’s transaction, and 20 transactions overall, with deal sizes right across the value chain. The team has been among the most active advisers to the (re)insurance market on M&A and other mandates in recent years.