Multiple Choice

In early October, Insurance Day published a short story about the first Russian coverholder application in Lloyd's. Almost two months on, the name of the company is still kept a very big secret. Why? - We have no idea. There are hundreds of Lloyd's coverholders across the world, and the status of a coverholder does not give a company some particular priviledges except for the obvious right to act as "agents of Lloyd's managing agents". So all this secrecy around a fairly standard procedure seems rather excessive.

Anyway, our well informed sources indicate two facts about the mysterious coverholder-to-be:
1. It's likely a top-10 Russian insurer
2. It's likely quite a prominent player in the marine/aviation segment.

Here is the Russian insurance top-10 list in H1 2010:
Rosgosstrakh
SOGAZ
Ingosstrakh
RESO-Garantia
Allianz Group
AlfaStrakhovanie
VSK
MSK Group
Soglassye
Kapital

Of the ten companies, three are quite prominent in the Russian marine/aviation circles: it's obviously SOGAZ, Ingosstrakh and, even more obviously, AlfaStrakhovanie, which in late 2009 acquired 100% in AVICOS-AFES, third largest player in the specialty risks segment. And if we had to bet on one of the three, we would go for Alfa. Incidentally, the company has London connections: private equity fund Pamplona Capital Management, which belongs to co-owner of Alfa Alex Knaster, in mid-2009 acquired 10% in Chaucer Holding.

So far, according to our sources, the mysterious coverholder applicant is undergoing due diligence. Hopefully, soon we'll know if our bet has won.