Hampden boosts its Lloyd’s capacity with £500k buy

Lloyd’s investment vehicle Hampden Underwriting has acquired a Lloyd’s corporate member and expects to announce a further acquisition soon.

Hampden has bought Nameco No. 229 for £500,000. The Lloyd’s corporate member has 2012 underwriting capacity of £900,000, compared with Hampden’s total of £11m.

Nameco 229 participates in a spread of Lloyd’s syndicates similar to Hampden Underwriting’s own participation.

Corporate members are companies that invest in Lloyd’s syndicates. They are essentially a corporate version of Names - the wealthy individual investors in Lloyd’s from which the market traditionally sourced most of its capital.

Hampden added that it is evaluating a number of other acquisition opportunities and expects to announce a further acquisition in the near future. The company said in a statement: “In light of these opportunities, the board has decided for the time being to conserve the company’s cash to fund further growth rather than initiate the payment of dividends. However, it remains the board’s intention to pay dividends in the future.”

Hampden Underwriting chief executive Nigel Hanbury said: “We are pleased to have made this acquisition of another corporate member which further increases our underwriting capacity. This is in line with our stated strategy of acquiring corporate members as suitable opportunities arise and we continue to evaluate other potential acquisitions.”