WAY WILL BE CHAIRMAN OF SOUTHWEST RISK AFTER SALE

Stephen Way will be chairman of the board of Southwest Risk Capital (SWR) after its announced sale by Houston International Insurance Group (HIIG) to New York-based private equity company GCP. HIIG will keep an equity interest in the new company. Dallas-based SWR specializes in placing commercial P&C cover "using traditional and alternative risk strategies". SWR will be renamed ClearView Risk. SWR chief executive Bryan Wilburn and his management team will continue to lead the company. Mr Way said that HIIG, formed after the merger in September 2010 between Mr Way's Southwest Insurance Partners (SWIP) and Lightyear Delos Acquisition Corp, was "in a strong position to continue to build for the future". Lightyear Delos was the holding company for US P&C insurers Delos and Naxos, while SWIP was the holding company for Great Midwest Insurance Co, life & health business National Health Insurance Co; Bunker Hill Underwriters Agency and SWR. HIIG's business consists mainly of small and medium-size accounts written through its affiliated and non-affiliated underwriting agencies, although last year it also expanded internationally in general aviation. UK-born Mr Way quit as CEO of Houston-based HCC in 2006 and severed all ties in February 2007 after it was revealed that the company had mispriced employees' stock options over a 12-year period. He went on to form Houston-based SWIP with backing from Argo Group International Holdings, American Safety Insurance Holdings, International General Insurance Co (Dubai); SureTec Financial Corp. (Houston); unnamed "high net worth individuals"; and SWIP management. Meanwhile, HIIG has named Mark Rattner as chairman and chief executive of its New York-based p/c unit Imperium Insurance; Kirby Hill has been named the unit's president and chief operating officer. Imperium is the newly adopted named of Delos Insurance following the Lightyear Delos/SWIP deal.