Uris Group Limited (UGL) has acquired Lutine Assurance Services from Ardonagh Group and plans to launch more products into the individual protection market.
Lutine provides group life solutions to SMEs and corporates, along with group business protection such as key person, partnership and shareholder cover.
It operates exclusively via intermediaries as a Lloyd’s cover holder.
As Lutine has historically focussed on providing group life solutions for SMEs through its broker partner network, UGL revealed it plans to use its national broker relationships to expand Lutine’s reach and to position the brand as the group’s platform for all protection-related business, not solely SME focussed solutions.
It added that over time, it intends to extend the Lutine brand to cover a broader range of protection solutions, including mortgage payment protection, short-term income protection and other specialist protection.
UGL has acquired a book of approximately £5.5m gross written premiums (GWP), with capacity provided by Beazley and Axa XL, and a team of eight specialist colleagues who will continue to operate under the Lutine brand.
UGL itself carried out a management buy-out from The Ardonagh Group in 2024.
Derek Coles, chief executive officer of UGL, said: “Lutine is a highly respected specialist in business protection, with deep technical expertise, historic and ongoing relationships with its capacity providers, and strong broker relationships.
“Bringing the business into UGL gives us another quality MGA operation, more diversification and more bandwidth to grow in a market we know is only going to become more important.
“Against the backdrop of the current political and economic climate, more people are looking at alternative options for protecting their health and financial security. We see long-term demand for well-designed protection products, and Lutine provides us with a superb platform to build on.”
“A lot of companies are looking at their cost bases and can’t react to these opportunities as they come along,” Coles continued.
“We’re nimble enough to do so, and we’re very happy to swim in these waters, where we see opportunities for growth by providing products for specialist needs.”
