The establishment of Gulf Re as a seminal reinsurance joint venture between the Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) and Arch Capital Group (Arch) illustrates our ground-breaking work in the GCC states, a niche emerging hub with significant potential.

In the context of that assignment, we achieved the following deliverables which led to the establishment of the joint venture company and its joint capitalisation by GIC and Arch to the tune of US$400m, resulting in an A- rating by AM Best, the first indigenous reinsurer to secure such a rating:

• Produced a strategic evaluation of the corporate development opportunity to establish a new GCC-focused re-insurer to write re-insurance business in the GCC states primarily for oil and gas, petrochemical, power and other similar large industrial assets. Our evaluation was driven by the key findings of our study and focused on:

• Broad Political and Economic Factors
• Key Characteristics of Insurable ‘High-Value’ Assets
• Non-Life Insurance and Reinsurance Growth Trends
• Analysis of Core Features of Reinsurance Market
• Feasibility, including illustrative business models, of Start-Up Re-insurer
• Assessment of Strategic Joint Venture Options
• Assessment of GCC Corporate Locations for Gulf Re
• Implementation

• Identified, cultivated and delivered a strategic partner to the GIC in the shape of Arch Capital Group
• Identified, cultivated and helped select a high-calibre core management team for the venture

• Our methodology in completing this assignment entailed structured discussions organised with more than thirty insurance sector organisations in London, as well as ‘on the ground’ in the GCC, selected on the basis of their perceived relative importance to the potential delivery of the business opportunity.
• The skills we deployed in the context of this assignment included:

• Networking and relationship building with major players and circles of influence
• Management of/liaison with multiple stakeholders including the client, potential sources of business, global brokers and local insurers, risk asset owners/contractors, regulators, DIFC, QFC, rating agencies, government and semi-governmental organisations, potential joint venture partners and potential core recruits, other professional advisers
• Strategic consultancy focused on entry strategies, market positioning, development scenario testing, business modelling, cross-cultural awareness, transactional behaviour, stakeholder mapping, implementation planning and tactics
• Corporate development opportunity promotion and marketing to potential partners, associates and business allies
• Formulating business interest alignment strategies to bring parties together and develop shared agendas
• Research, information collection and analysis
• Negotiation tactics often involving multicultural and multijurisdictional settings
• Ideas generation to enhance and enrich the project
• Project management/co-ordination of external and internal resources including local professional advisors in multiple jurisdictions