Ex-Ontario Teachers ILS specialist Trahan returns with Calidris

By Chris Munro

May 13 - (The Insurer) - Former Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (OTPPB) ILS executive Philippe Trahan has returned to the industry with the launch of Calidris Investment Partners.

Based in Bermuda, Calidris describes itself as an investment firm “focused on executing strategic capital partnership transactions within the insurance sector”.

The startup is led by Trahan and Daniel Miller who both hold the position of co-founders and co-CEOs at Calidris.

It is backed by two unnamed institutional investment firms that Calidris said have “a strong track record in building financial services businesses”.

“Calidris expects to ramp up its operations and market presence over the coming months,” the company states on its website.

Prior to launching Calidris, Toronto-based Trahan was a managing director at OTPPB where he built and managed its ILS platform for 17 years. He left OTPPB last year after the Canadian pension fund restructured its investment teams.

At Calidris, he works alongside Miller who has over 20 years of industry experience as an insurance corporate finance specialist within industry, sell-side, and buyside roles.

Before co-launching Calidris, Miller was a managing director at Blackstone within the company’s tactical opportunities group in London, where he was focused on insurance partnership transactions.

Ahead of joining Blackstone, Miller spent just over a year at Deutsche Bank within the company’s insurance solution team, while his career also includes almost eight years at Nomura, again working in the bank’s insurance solutions unit.