Marsh’s marine division is about to be strengthened by the arrival of Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT)’s senior hull and protection and indemnity brokers.
There is talk of up to 1,000 redundancies following the US giant’s $5.6bn acquisition of JLT, announced last week, but the marine divisions of both firms are likely to escape the worst of it.
Marsh’s marine team recently lost key brokers Nick Taylor, Helen Costin and Andrew Reynolds, and the suggestion is that it did not replace them because it already had JLT in its sights.
“Marsh is probably the larger marine broker, but JLT has the more senior marine team and they will be a big gain for Marsh if they join,” a rival broker commented.
Potential gains
Among the potential gains for Marsh are Nick Lockyer and Nick Berry, both established brokers in the hull market, which is a noted JLT strength.
However, there are questions over whether some of JLT’s senior figures will be entirely comfortable in the Marsh set-up.
Mark Cracknell, head of JLT’s P&I team, left Marsh in 2005 to join Benfield. Marsh recently appointed Richard Adler as its P&I head, and there is conjecture over who will lead the division should the acquisition be approved and Cracknell join.
There is also the matter of whether JLT’s marine insurance clients will all be keen to move their accounts over to Marsh.
“A lot of the Greek owners like working with a smaller brokerage like JLT, and some are saying they will not be happy moving over to a mega-broker like Marsh,” one underwriter said.
Teekay and other companies divide their brokerage between Marsh and JLT, and some of that business will move to rivals as owners seek to maintain a split brokerage.
The JLT takeover could soon be dwarfed, if rumours of a potential mega-merger being touted in the London markets between Aon and Willis Towers Watson are to be believed. However, the parties have denied talks are taking place.
