Wellington Underwriting has announced that it has raised £448m to fund the formation of Wellington Re, which will be the UK's largest independent reinsurance group.
Wellington Re will focus on property and casualty reinsurance and UK commercial insurance.
The group also said that, subject to market conditions, it plans to raise equity finance to increase its interest in the holding company of Wellington Re.
This finance would also be used to strengthen the group's balance sheet and help support its share of Syndicate 2020's future underwriting.
The funding was raised from an investor group led by Blackstone and Candover and includes CSFB Private Equity, Montpelier Re, 3i, Phoenix Equity Partners, Olympus Partners, Lexicon and Wellington Re Management.
Wellington chief executive Julian Avery said: "This new London-based company takes forward our strategy to exploit fully the dramatically improved rating environment.
"This latest initiative will allow Wellington to build further on its leading position in the Lloyd's market and enhance returns to our shareholders and third party capital providers."
