Top 20 Spotlight - 13: Great Lakes

UK HEAD OFFICE

Plantation Place
30 Fenchurch Street
London EC3M 3AJ
Tel: 020 3003 7000
www.greatlakes.co.uk

A year in the news

October - December 2007

- October: Giant Insurance admits it has held talks with a number of insurers as part of a product expansion. Any new insurer would join Faraday, which tied up with the Glasgow-based underwriting agency in July 2007, and its start-up insurer Great Lakes, which both underwrite the agency's existing industrial property, liability, package and scheme business.

- October: Parent Munich Re announces plans to acquire MSP Underwriting for a figure said to be in the "mid double-digit million euro range". MSP Underwriting owns both the Lloyd's managing agency Beaufort Underwriting Agency, which manages the business of Lloyd's Syndicate 318, and Lloyd's service company Evergreen Underwriting Services, through which commercial business is written.

- October: Munich Re locates three of the core business units of its London non-life operations in one Fenchurch Street office, encompassing more than 40 underwriters.

January - March 2008

- January: Unveiled as the joint legal expenses insurer, with First Assist, for underwriting agency Home and Legacy's let product.

July - September 2008

- July: Parent Munich Re's shares tumble over 12% to EUR102.4 (£81.5); it cites capital market turmoil as the reason it will not hit its EUR3.0-3.4bn profit target. However, it still expects the final figure to be "well above EUR2bn".

- August: Parent Munich Re reports a drop of first-half profits of nearly 35%, impacted by decreasing insurance prices, the high amount of catastrophe losses, and more than EUR2bn of sub-prime write-downs. The German reinsurance giant claims profits for the first six months of the year to the end June fell to EUR1.4bn from EUR2.1bn a year before. However, it says it is still confident of being "well" over its new year-end profit target of EUR2bn.