Lloyd’s broker Paragon bought by Australian insurance group

PSC Insurance Group has acquired all of Lloyd’s broker Paragon International Holdings.

The deal will give PSC controlled Lloyd’s premiums of around £500m, and access to the US market.

Founded in 1996, Paragon is focussed on professional and financial lines and employs over 90 staff with an expertise in professional liability, director’s & officers, cyber, casualty, healthcare and mergers & acquisitions insurance.

Paragon provides wholesale brokerage services to clients in the United States and both direct and wholesale brokerage services in the UK. Its clients include technology, legal, engineering and architectural firms.

Following the deal, Australian group PSC confirmed the Paragon leadership team will continue to manage the broker, and that it will operate as an autonomous business unit of PSC.

Co-chief executive and founder of Paragon James Kalbassi said: “This is a very exciting transaction. We are building from a position of strength, with a compelling, broader independent platform to create a more powerful specialty broking business.

“Our strategy remains unchanged: we will continue to differentiate the Paragon brand as a specialist Lloyd’s broker, with everyone continuing to focus on our customers and the opportunity to accelerate the growth of our business.”

Growth

And fellow co-chief executive and founder Tara Falk shared Kalbassi’s optimism.

“PSC understands what is special about our business and recognises Paragon’s long term potential,” she said. “We are aligning Paragon with like-minded people, who are customer focussed, have built a great business themselves and who share our ambition and vision for the future.

“We will continue to build on the successful Paragon model to drive PSC’s international growth objectives.”

Upon completion of the acquisition, it is the PSC board’s intention to appoint Falk as an executive director on the PSC board.

Managing director of PSC Tony Robinson said: “The acquisition of Paragon will greatly add to the scale and expertise within our UK businesses and we will enhance our position as a leading Lloyd’s broker providing services to US insurance brokers.

“Tara Falk and James Kalbassi have built a very impressive business over more than two decades, and we are very pleased to be partnering with the whole team at Paragon.

“Many of the Paragon team will become material shareholders in the PSC Group. The Group will control in excess of A$1.5 billion in premiums across all our businesses, making us an increasingly important participant in our key markets”.