Investor Series EP03 - Insurance Coffee House: Insurance M&A, MGA Investment, ILS & Institutional Capital - Michael Forman, Co-Head of North America & Cate Kenworthy, Managing Director (Howden Capital Markets & Advisory)

On this episode of the Insurance Coffee House, Nick Hoadley is joined by Michael Forman, Co-Head of North America M&A and Capital Raising, and Cate Kenworthy, Managing Director, at Howden Capital Markets & Advisory.

Michael shares his career journey from insurance underwriting at Travelers into investment banking and corporate development. After completing business school, he joined Willis Capital Markets & Advisory before moving to AIG’s global corporate development team. He has now spent more than nine years with Howden Capital Markets & Advisory, advising insurance companies and investors across M&A and capital-raising transactions.

Cate’s background is in fundraising and alternative asset management. Her career has included fund-of-funds investing, macro and emerging markets, and insurance-linked securities before she joined Howden Capital Markets & Advisory in 2023. Her role focuses on educating investors and developing relationships with institutions seeking to understand and access insurance and reinsurance investment opportunities.

The conversation explores the role of Howden Capital Markets & Advisory within the wider Howden Group. Michael explains how its global team focuses exclusively on the property and casualty insurance industry, advising insurance carriers, insurance services businesses and investors across M&A, private debt and equity, new company formations and insurance-linked securities.

Michael also discusses how the team can draw on specialist expertise from across Howden and Howden Re when advising clients. Depending on the transaction, this can include actuarial, ratings, capital-modelling, broking and market expertise, while maintaining the required regulatory and information controls.

Cate explains how investor education has become an increasingly important part of the firm’s work. Following Hurricane Ian and changes in interest rates and reinsurance pricing, private equity firms, private credit funds, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and family offices began looking more closely at property catastrophe risk and insurance-linked securities.

What began with investor roundtables focused on a specific market opportunity has developed into broader discussions covering casualty and specialty insurance, reinsurance sidecars, MGAs, Lloyd’s and direct investment in insurance businesses.

Nick, Michael and Cate discuss why institutional capital continues to move into insurance. Michael explains why insurance services businesses and MGA