London office advises Dale Underwriting Partners on strategic partnership with CVC

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Dale Underwriting Partners (Dale), led by CEO and founder, Duncan Dale, on a strategic partnership deal that it has agreed with leading global private equity and investment advisory firm CVC.

Founded by Duncan Dale in 2014 and operating through Lloyd’s Syndicate 1729, Dale is a specialist provider of insurance and reinsurance lines across six core classes, controlling more than $500m of premiums.

The deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, sees funds managed by CVC invest into Dale to provide the capital to replace Syndicate 1729’s current third-party capital providers and support business growth, which will result in the CVC-managed funds acquiring a majority stake in the business.

The multi-disciplinary Norton Rose Fulbright team advising on the deal was led by corporate Partner Nicholas Berry, who said:

“We have been privileged to be able to support Dale from its formation to now securing this important investment. This is the latest in a series of transactions we have advised on involving Lloyd’s of London and private equity evidencing the strength of our corporate insurance and private equity practices in the insurance market”

Nicholas Berry was supported by Partner Sophie O’Connor, Counsel Adam Murphy, Senior Associate David Bartlett, Associates Thomas Widdows and Jess Bruneau, and trainees Kimberly Stiegler and Prairie Moat in the corporate team. Partner James Dunnett, Counsel Sunny Wong and Associate Shivani Patel assisted from the banking and finance team, with further advice provided by Partner Dominic Stuttaford and Associate Edward Spilman on tax, and Partner Matthew Findley on incentives.

The firm’s London corporate and regulatory insurance practice is Tier 1 ranked by Chambers and The Legal 500. Its global lawyers advise many of the world’s most well-known industry participants on their most significant corporate, regulatory and transactional matters, as well as on complex claims, class actions, disputes and investigations. The team works with a wide range of industry participants including agencies and brokerages, captives, private equity funds, property and casualty insurers, professional malpractice insurers, reinsurers, surplus lines companies and self-funded alternative risk organisations.