Howden expands with purchase of Expat Marine Ltd
Howden Insurance Brokers (HK) Ltd recently completed the purchase of the business portfolio of Expat Marine Ltd, a long-established insurance broker in Hong Kong focussing on SME business, High Net Worth, Employee Benefits, and yacht insurance. Colin Dawson, a Founding Member and APSA’s first Chairman has partnered with Expat Marine Ltd, looking after yacht owners and their covers for the past 12 year. He has confirmed that this partnership will continue with Howden, adding “This partnership will allow us to benefit from Howden’s reach in the market, have access to insurers we previously didn’t have and join with a network of Howden offices, enabling us to improve our offering to clients. It also allows teams at Howden to access my 25 year’s specialist experience with yacht insurance, assisting them give greater value to their clients,”
Howden has offices in 45 territories and employs over 9000 people worldwide, placing US$11 Billion in premium to the insurance market. While this makes it one of the larger insurance brokers in the world the company is keen to stress that its size allows it to carry weight yet maintain its very personalized levels of service to its clients. This fits very well with the Expat Marine philosophy which has always been to ensure clients have excellent value cover and has always gone out of its way to ensure client satisfaction.
In the last couple of years Howden has established a strong position in the yacht insurance market with the acquisitions of Sturge Taylor & Associates from the UK and the South of France (which includes Fastnet Marine), Aston Lark which incorporates CRS Yachts and now a partnership with one of Asia Pacific’s most experienced yacht insurance brokers. Commenting on this, Dawson said “With a broader reach, I am confident this change will allow us to present a more complete package to yacht owners and the surrounding yacht industry, allowing us to offer better value to them,” adding that he hoped to offer “better and more stable programmes for his clients in what is now a very difficult yacht insurance market.”
Julian Franzman, Regional Head of Marine Speciality, commented ‘This acquisition will strengthen the overall offering for our marine clients and reiterates Howden’s ongoing strategy of empowering local teams to partner with firms with a shared culture to enhance our client offering across the globe.’
As yacht ownership continues to expand in Asia, especially with many buying larger yachts in a very nervous yacht insurance market, along with more of a focus on who is advising clients on insurance its now more important than ever to have genuine expertise looking after owners’ interests. The advice and levels of service now available to Asia Pacific clients through the Howden network is extensive. Dawson believes that “in an era where many want quick fixes its extremely important to help owners have the right cover for their assets that does not rely on price, rather high levels of good cover provided by experienced people with a long track record in understanding yacht insurance”
Colin Dawson - colindawson@tgg.com.hk +852 2530 2331