A global leader in the legacy sector
Operating globally, we have transacted a wide variety of deals – from portfolio transfers to reinsurance transactions and company purchases, acquiring more than $15.5 billion of liabilities since 2010. Riverstone International has around $6.4 billion of liabilities under live management.
As a leader in the legacy sector we employ more than 500 professionals operating across multiple offices and affiliates spread across the UK, Malta, Ireland and Bermuda.
What sets us apart
Top 3 legacy player globally.
Established track record, closing 41 deals since 2010 across a range of values (∼$12m up to ∼$1.9bn reserves) and with a high degree of structural complexity.
Established reputation as a trustworthy, reliable and responsible counterparty.
We work hard on building good lines of communication and relationships with regulators.
Experienced, knowledgeable and specialist in-house claims reinsurance and underwriting teams supporting due diligence, pricing, reserving, policyholder relationships and claims management.
Large and diversified portfolios generating capital and scale efficiencies. All transactions captured on single operating system with 89 data migrations undertaken by our skilled and experienced in-house IT team.
Operational Excellence
Claims
An extensive in-house claims department, with expertise in handling complex run-off matters across all non-life (re)insurance classes, both in the company and Lloyd’s markets. Experienced cross-class adjusters enable the team to react to businesses needs and ensure a high class of service for stakeholders. Conduct Risk and the fair treatment of customers is a key focus for RiverStone as part of the group’s commitment to ensure the timely payment of valid claims.
Outwards Reinsurance
An experienced outwards reinsurance team which works closely with brokers and reinsurers, and the claims team to ensure timely issuance and collection of reinsurance asset. This helps with the financial security of RiverStone, ensuring accurate valuation of the reinsurance asset due, and aligns with our goal to proactively manage matters under our control in the interests of all stakeholders.
Underwriting & Delegated Authority
An in-house team with knowledge across a vast arrange of non-life (re)insurance classes, RiverStone’s team are experienced in the handling of run-off underwriting matters and maintain strong relationships with brokers, Coverholders, insureds and cedants.
This team includes dedicated resource for the management of delegated underwriting relationships. RiverStone has worked to develop this aspect in recent years and considers itself to have best in class capabilities.
IT & Operations
Supporting the operational functions is RiverStone’s IT & Operations teams. RiverStone maintains a bespoke policy and claims system, removing reliance on third parties and ensuring systems and processes are in place to support the management of the business, prompt payment of claims, and accurate and complete management and regulatory reporting. The team has completed 89 system migrations from past acquisitions.
Our values
Unlocking the path forward
At RiverStone International, we strive to be unassuming, inclusive, straightforward, honest, transparent and easy to engage The evolution of our business, and the talented people that drive it, are responsible for fostering a diverse culture where everyone is fulfilled, valued and included.
For sellers, brokers and other stakeholders, we are dependable and dedicated. We have always championed and will always strive for responsible and sustainable outcomes for our people, clients, communities and the environment. We will never compromise the honesty, security and integrity that are essential to all of our outcomes.
Our values define who we are:
- Focused on delivering results
- Collaborative problem solvers
- Loyal and committed to our partners
- Encouraging entrepreneurial innovation
- Team players – no egos
- Expertly balancing risk and reward
- Hard-working but not at the expense of our personal lives
- Fair and dependable – we keep our word
Our leadership team
RiverStone is a highly experienced group of global professionals from various disciplines
Preben Prebensen
Independent Non-Executive Chair
Preben Prebensen
Independent Non-Executive Chair
With more than 40 years of experience in the financial services and insurance sectors, Preben brings strong leadership and significant experience to support RiverStone International’s growth plans as an independent company. His experience includes 11 years as CEO of Close Brothers Group, a FTSE 250 merchant bank. He was also formerly chief investment officer and a member of the group executive committee at Catlin Group, an international non-life insurer, and CEO at Wellington Underwriting, a specialist insurer.
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Luke Tanzer
Group Chief Executive Officer
Luke Tanzer
Group Chief Executive Officer
With more than 32 years of experience in the insurance industry, Luke runs RiverStone International’s operations. He joined RiverStone in 1998 and has held a number of positions including head of workout, reinsurance director and operations director before his promotion to CEO in 2009. Prior to RiverStone, Luke spent eight years in the claims and placing divisions of Alwen Hough Johnson and Sedgwick Re. He was a board member of the Insurance and Reinsurance Legacy Association (IRLA) between 2005 and 2013. Luke graduated from James Cook University, North Queensland with a Bachelor of Economics in 1988.
Luke walks to stay fit and since July 2015 he has walked more than 5,000 miles and climbed more than 35,000 floors.
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Mark Bannister
Group Chief Operations Officer
Mark Bannister
Group Chief Operations Officer
With 30 years of experience in the insurance industry, Mark oversees the claims, reinsurance and underwriting operations of RiverStone International. He joined the company in 1994 and has held various management positions including manager of the financial run-off unit, head of commutations, workout manager and reinsurance director. Mark has commuted more than US$1 billon in approximately 600 commutations and resolved some of the company’s most complex exposures. From 2014 to 2016, Mark spent two years at RiverStone’s former US operation as vice-president in New Hampshire before returning to the UK to fill his current role. He received his Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Public Administration from the University of South Wales.
Mark is an avid swimmer and is related to Roger Bannister, a world-class runner who broke the four-minute-mile barrier.
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Andy Creed
Group Chief Financial Officer
Andy Creed
Group Chief Financial Officer
With more than 15 years of experience, Andy is responsible for all finance, capital, actuarial and business planning matters of RiverStone International’s operations. He joined RiverStone in 2013 as a reporting accountant, progressing to become RSMA finance director in 2018 and chief financial officer in 2019. Prior to joining RiverStone, Andy spent three years working in the corporate and investment banking department of Barclays Bank. He started his career in 2007 in the audit and assurance practice at PwC, working almost exclusively with clients in the London insurance market and qualifying as an accountant in 2010.
Andy likes to spend his holidays hiking in UK national parks and also enjoys swimming in the sea off the Brighton coast.
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Stephen Roberts
Executive Claims Director
Stephen Roberts
Executive Claims Director
With 40 years in the insurance industry, Stephen oversees all inwards claims into RiverStone International. He joined RiverStone in 2012 and has served in a number
of industry leadership roles and trade groups, including the Insurance and Reinsurance Legacy Association (IRLA) as well the board of the claims faculty of the Chartered Insurance Institute. Stephen is ACII qualified and prior to RiverStone he was with Brit Insurance for 10 years, most recently as head of UK claims. He also helped found Specialist Liability Insurance Limited, a loss adjusting company. Stephen’s career began at Lloyd’s broker Leslie & Godwin.
Stephen is a rock-and-roll and blues drummer who plays in several bands.
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David Rocke
Group Head of Mergers & Acquisitions
David Rocke
Group Head of Mergers & Acquisitions
With a 27-year career in the insurance industry – all of it in the legacy sector – David runs RiverStone International’s acquisitions activities, having joined the business in February 2022. He spent 21 years at Enstar in Bermuda and the UK up until 2017, having joined that firm from Deloitte in 1996. David qualified as chartered accountant in Birmingham in 1993 having completed his Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics at Merton College, Oxford.
During the time between retiring from Enstar and joining RiverStone David was a keen cultivator of chilis in his Bermuda garden and produced a variety of sauces and dips for friends.
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James Wackrow
Group Chief Actuary
James Wackrow
Group Chief Actuary
James leads RiverStone International’s actuarial function. He joined RiverStone in 2019 as the managing agency chief actuary and has progressed since then to take responsibility for the wider group. James was previously chief actuary of Advent Underwriting in Lloyd’s and has held a number of senior actuarial roles across the
Lloyd’s market over the past 20 years. He started his career in life insurance with Pearl Assurance and spent a number of years with General Electric before moving to the Lloyd’s market. He is a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (UK). James graduated from the University of Warwick (UK) with a Bachelor of Science in
mathematics.
While travelling in a sabbatical year, James landed a part in the Michael Caine film ‘The Quiet American’.
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Charlotte Pritchard
Group Risk & Compliance Director
Charlotte Pritchard
Group Risk & Compliance Director
With more than 14 years of experience, Charlotte is responsible for all risk and compliance related matters for RiverStone. She joined the company in 2017, starting
as the internal audit manager, progressing to the head of internal audit and executive risk and compliance director in 2021. Prior to joining RiverStone, Charlotte spent eight years working at PwC across a breadth of industries, initially in assurance services with a subsequent five years spent working in forensic services focusing on investigations into fraud and financial irregularities, litigation support and the provision of expert reports for commercial disputes and international arbitration.
Charlotte is a keen runner, and she enjoys running over the South Downs and along the seafront in Brighton.
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Neil Taylor
Group Chief Investment Officer
Neil Taylor
Group Chief Investment Officer
With more than 20 years of experience in financial services, Neil joined Riverstone International as Group CIO in November 2021 and is responsible for all aspects of Riverstone’s investment activities. Prior to Riverstone, Neil spent 11 years at Catalina, where he was latterly European CIO overseeing US$4bn of AUM and running the in-house real estate lending business and the external real estate activities through joint-venture partner Oxenwood Real Estate. He also managed the US$500MM in-house CLO portfolio. Neil spent the first 11 years of his career in investment banking and capital markets based in both London and New York, latterly as head of the $15bn ABS principal finance platform within RBC Capital Markets
In his spare time, Neil enjoys playing piano and tennis.
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Mike Cain
Group General Counsel and Company Secretary
Mike Cain
Group General Counsel and Company Secretary
Mike is a corporate lawyer with 25 years’ experience operating in the international insurance and reinsurance sector. Mike joined RiverStone as general counsel and
company secretary in 2022 from the Aspen Group, where he held the position of general counsel and company secretary alongside various other leadership roles including Group COO and CEO of the Bermuda platform. Prior to Aspen Mike worked for the Benfield Group (prior to its acquisition by Aon) as well as law firms Ashurst and Barlow Lyde & Gilbert. Mike holds an LLB from the University of Reading and an LLM from the University of Bristol.
Outside of the office Mike now enjoys watching his children play sports and hankers for more personal travel.
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Megan Kimbell
Group Chief People Officer
Megan Kimbell
Group Chief People Officer
With more than 25 years of experience, Megan is responsible for leading our People and Culture strategy in support of RiverStone’s continued growth and international expansion. Prior to joining RiverStone, Megan was an HR Leader within global multinationals including abrdn, Travelport International and Barclays Bank and a management consultant with Accenture and Capgemini / Ernst and Young. Megan holds a Bachelor of Business (Human Resources) from the Queensland University of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) from the University of Queensland.
Megan is a keen traveler and has lived or worked in 8 countries around the world and holidayed to over 50.
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Matt Copelin
Interim Group Chief Information Officer
Matt Copelin
Interim Group Chief Information Officer
With 25 years of experience, Matt leads the Group Technology function at RiverStone International, responsible for driving strategic alignment and growth across all regions. Before joining RiverStone, Matt spent 15 years in senior leadership roles at WR Berkley and Hiscox Insurance, and over a decade managing strategic change across various companies and industries. Matt holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of International Business from Griffith University, Queensland, Australia.
Outside of work, Matt has a keen interest in classic cars, antiques, rugby, concerts of all kinds, and spending time with his four children.
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