Ariel Re Capital Partners completes first fund raise under London Bridge 2

By Aidan Gregory

Jan 30 - (The Insurer) - Ariel Re Capital Partners (ARCP), the third-party capital vehicle of reinsurer Ariel Re, has successfully completed its first raise.

Launched in 2024, ARCP intends to give third-party capital such as small funds, family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals the opportunity to invest at least $5mn into the Lloyd’s market via Arial Re’s Syndicate 1910.

The fund raise closed in December and used the London Bridge 2 transformer vehicle, which was created to facilitate the entry of alternative capital into the Lloyd’s market without the need to establish a Lloyd’s corporate membership. The total amount raised was not disclosed.

Ariel Re said that the capital raised will provide around 10 percent of the capital supporting its 2025 year of account.

“ARCP was designed to simplify the investment process for smaller investors looking to access the Lloyd’s market, specifically, Ariel Re’s Syndicate 1910,” said Henry Paddison, head of capital development and investor relations at Ariel Re. “We believe ARCP is a great opportunity for smaller investors looking to diversify their portfolios, and we are delighted to have successfully closed its first capital raise.

“Ariel Re is a best-in-class underwriter, and ARCP enables us to attract a wider range of potential investors to our business,” added Paddison. “There has been strong investor interest in the first capital raise, and we are confident that ARCP will provide Ariel Re with a growing source of multi-year capital in the years to come.”

Lloyd’s has set ambitious targets for the growth of the London Bridge 2 platform in 2025 after $1.9bn was deployed via the scheme in 2024, up from $500mn in 2023.

Burkhard Keese, the outgoing CFO of Lloyd’s and a key champion of London Bridge 2, told The Insurer earlier this week that the exchange was targeting similar levels of growth in 2025.

Keese, who is due to leave Lloyd’s in the second quarter of 2025, subsequently welcomed Ariel Re’s successful capital raising.

“We’re pleased to see Ariel Re, as an early participant of the London Bridge 2 platform, demonstrating innovation by developing this new fund to allow smaller institutional investors to support the growth of Syndicate 1910,” said Keese in a statement on Thursday. “This fund raise demonstrates how London Bridge 2 can be used to expand and diversify sources of capital by tapping into a larger investment pool.”