By Aidan Gregory

Feb 17 - (The Insurer) - QBE Europe has added Francisco Castro Yebra as a senior underwriter in its transaction liability team in London.

Yebra has joined the European arm of the Australian insurer from ICEN Risk, the managing general agent, where he was an associate M&A underwriter focused on the UK and Iberia.

A dual-qualified lawyer in Spain and England and Wales, Yebra will underwrite M&A transactions in the UK and Europe.

Earlier in his career, Yebra worked as an M&A lawyer at Cuatrecasas, the Spanish law firm, for three years before starting at Lloyd’s in 2021 following the completion of his LLM at King’s College London.

QBE Europe’s transaction liability team has a particular focus on M&A within the consumer goods, energy, financial services, healthcare, infrastructure and utilities, media, real estate, retail and technology sectors, according to the company.

Since US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House there has been a resurgence of M&A and deal-making, a wave of deregulation, and interest rate cuts due to cooling inflation.

Increased M&A volume is expected to fuel demand for transaction liability insurance, which protects against unknown breaches of target and seller representations and warranties in a sale agreement.

QBE Europe said it plans to make further hires in the space this year.

“The M&A market is recovering and I’m very excited we are growing the team with international talent, in London with Fran, and soon also in Sweden with an upcoming appointment for the Nordics,” said Toria Lessman, global head of transactional liability at QBE, in a statement on Monday.