By David Bull

May 28 - (The Insurer) - Former PartnerRe CEO Jacques Bonneau and Howden Re’s Rob Bredahl have launched Novel Financial Holdings, a start-up aiming to own attorney-in-facts (AIFs) and traditional stock companies supporting MGUs, combining fee income with underwriting returns.

Bonneau and Bredahl will serve as chairman and CEO respectively. The management team at the new vehicle also includes Chris Coleman as chief financial officer and David Drury as head of analytics and risk.

Sources with knowledge of the startup’s plans said its strategy is aimed at generating a higher return on equity than traditional balance sheet companies can because of what management believe is a unique hybrid model.

It will effectively manage reciprocal exchanges by owning their AIFs as well as traditional stock companies through direct ownership and service contracts.

That will allow it to benefit from fee income from AIFs and other service arrangements as well as underwriting results from carriers it owns, creating a diversified underwriting and insurance services business.

Standalone insurance services and distribution businesses have typically commanded significantly higher valuations than balance sheet businesses in recent years.

The creation of the new company comes after Novel’s recent acquisition of Forza Insurance Holdings, which currently owns the AIFs of SureChoice Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange $(SURE.UK)$ and Elevate Reciprocal Exchange (Elevate).

AIFs generate fee income from managing reciprocal exchanges, which are owned by their policyholders and have become an increasingly popular structure to write coastal property risks in recent years.

SURE and Elevate were both set up in conjunction with property cat-focused coastal MGU SageSure as it sought to diversify its carrier panel to support its growth trajectory.

They will now be managed by Novel as they continue to write business through a strategic partnership with SageSure, the Terry McLean-led MGU that has grown to become one of the largest focused on cat-exposure property markets in the U.S.

In a statement confirming the launch, Jersey City, New Jersey-based Novel said that it plans to build a diversified underwriting and insurance services business by combining fee income from insurance services (including AIFs) with the underwriting performance from insurance carriers.

“Novel expects to generate superior returns for its shareholders through increased scale and diversification, in terms of both underwriting exposures and type of revenue, combined with expert program partner selection,” it continued.

The statement added that Novel will partner with “market-leading MGUs to deliver superior returns for its shareholders”.

Sources said the start-up will build a diversified portfolio including specialty casualty E&S business by supporting other MGUs in addition to property cat-focused SageSure.

It will also seek to attract third party capital investment into Novel and acquire stock insurance companies over time.

In addition to SURE and Elevate, SageSure currently has an established panel of insurers, including Interboro and GeoVera.

SageSure acquired the underwriting operations of GeoVera in a deal that closed at the start of 2025 as a bifurcation transaction that also included SageSure investing in a new vehicle set up to house GeoVera’s carrier operation.

Meanwhile, Forza bought Interboro from American Coastal in a transaction that also closed this year. SageSure serves as a program administrator for Interboro.

Sources said Novel’s ownership of AIFs of reciprocal exchanges established by SageSure would provide a framework for those businesses to effectively “disaffiliate” with separate and independent governance from the MGA.

That independence would be further encouraged by them then developing relationships with third party MGAs.

SEASONED MANAGEMENT TEAM

Novel’s start-up management team includes a quartet of seasoned industry executives with common ties.

Bonneau retired as president and CEO of PartnerRe in March 2024 after a career that also included roles such as chief underwriting officer at Chubb and CEO of its reinsurance arm Tempest Re.

Former Aon Benfield executive and Third Point Re CEO Bredahl will continue in his current role as vice chairman of Howden Re and executive chairman of Howden Capital Markets and Advisory.

Coleman left his position as chief financial officer at Aspen last year and was CFO of Third Point Re until its merger with Sirius Group, including through its New York IPO.

Drury, who has an actuarial background, has worked with all three of his leadership colleagues previously, including as Chubb Tempest Re’s chief underwriting officer and senior vice president of underwriting at Third Point Re.