Italian marine insurance broker Cambiaso Risso Group is strengthening its position in the Greek protection and indemnity sector with the acquisition of rival broker Fender SA.
Genoa-based Cambiaso Risso has formed a "strategic alliance" with Piraeus-based Fender in a move expected to boost its P&I portfolio.
The buyout is the latest in a string of acquisitions for Cambiaso Risso, which was taken over early last year by France's Siaci Saint Honore Group.
The purchase of Fender will add 120 shipping companies and more than 1,000 vessels to the Siaci-Cambiaso Risso portfolio, which will number 10,000 ships.
Big difference
Cambiaso Risso chairman Marco Risso, who has also been appointed chairman at Fender, told TradeWinds that working with the Greek broker would make "a big difference".
Fender was founded in 2012 by partners Nikolaos Lemonakis and Stefanos Vardalos, and employs a team of 20.
The two companies have been working together for two or three years and had already done a lot of business together, Risso said.
The Italian insurance broker is best known for its involvement in the hull and machinery sector.
But the deal with the Greek partner will see it further expand into the P&I sector, which accounts for about 60% of Fender's business. The remainder is derived from the hull and machinery sector.
Cambiaso Risso stepped up its involvement in P&I in February this year when it acquired Costa Brokers, a Genoa-based P&I specialist controlled by Riccardo and Andrea Costa.
Risso predicts the new partnership will lead to "incredible" growth of Fender's P&I book in 2021.
"In P&I, we're already very active now," he said. "We felt that in marine you have to gradually get involved."
The diversification into P&I puts the company in competition with PL Ferrari, a more established specialist in the sector.
But Risso believes there "is space for a lot of people, there is a lot of opportunities".
"We have a lot of connections on the hull and machinery, which can be very useful on the P&I as well," he said.
Diversification
The deal marks the latest step in a five-year plan unveiled last year that seeks to double the size of Cambiaso Risso's business.
This saw the company diversify into shipbroking earlier this year with the acquisition of the sale-and-purchase division of Genoa Sea Broker, which is staffed by brokers Enrico Raugi and Alberto Casabona.
Cambiaso Risso stakes a claim to being the third-largest marine broker in the world and the second-largest in Europe.
