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Owen Ross

Partner

Contact
CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
Cannon Place
78 Cannon Street
London
EC4N 6AF
United Kingdom
Languages English

Owen is a partner in the CMS financial services group, he advises insurers, reinsurers, Lloyd’s businesses and capital providers on transactional matters. 

Much of his work is capital driven and he has assisted clients on a wide variety of risk transfer and corporate transactions, including mixed reinsurance and M&A combinations, asset and longevity structures, whole of business reinsurance and back book / forward book splits. Alongside Jenny Nanalal and Thom Lockley, Owen is part of the Insurance, Risk and Capital Transactions group, which has been hugely successful, becoming the largest team in the City for bespoke insurance and pensions risk transactions. 

Owen has significant corporate finance expertise and has advised a range of blue chip and new entrant players on complex acquisitions, divestments and partnership arrangements in the insurance and asset management market. 
 

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Owen Ross is terrific. Thoughtful and results oriented.

Legal 500

Relevant experience

  • Phoenix Group Holdings on the simplification of its strategic partnership with abrdn, including the sale of the SLAL UK investment and platform-related products, comprising Wrap Self Invested Personal Pension, Onshore Bond and UK Trustee Investment Plan and the acquisition of the “Standard Life” brand.
  • MetLife on the sale of its Polish and Greek business to NN.
  • Phoenix Group Holdings on (1) the £2.9 billion acquisition of Standard Life Assurance Limited from Standard Life Aberdeen plc, (2) the related long-term strategic partnership arrangements with Standard Life Aberdeen plc, (3) the acquisition of Abbey Life from Deutsche Bank AG for £935 million and (4) the acquisition of ReAssure from Swiss Re and MS&AD. 
  • The funds managed by Stone Point Capital LLC in their joint acquisition of AmTrust alongside members of the Karfunkel-Zyskind family.
  • TDR Capital LLP and MGM Advantage Holdings Limited on the sale of the MGM group of companies to Canada Life.
  • A novel whole of business reinsurance and fronting arrangement to remove historic risks from a newly acquired reinsurer.
  • Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd. (part of the MS&AD Group) on its takeover of Amlin for £3.5 billion and various internal matters, including the combination of its two Lloyd’s syndicates and the reorganisation of its Lloyd’s businesses.
  • Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. in its US$6.3 billion merger with Sompo Holdings, Inc. and various reorganisations and regulatory matters.
  • Liberty Mutual Group Inc. on its US$3 billion acquisition of Ironshore Inc and the subsequent disposal of Ironshore’s UK and Irish business to Hamilton.
  • Numerous life insurers on a range of longevity risk reinsurance transactions and capital optimisation. 
  • The transferor in relation to the £4 billion court-sanctioned insurance business transfer of pensions and insurance assets.
  • Goldman Sachs in the regulatory elements of its investment in Hastings Insurance Group.
     
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Education

  • 2006 – MA, University of St Andrews
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Feed

14/03/2024
CMS advises Rothesay on £6bn bulk annuity portfolio acquisition
International law firm CMS has advised Rothesay on the acquisition of a Scottish Widows £6bn bulk annuity portfolio from Scottish Widows, a member of the Lloyds Banking Group. The transaction is initially...
07/02/2023
Insurer Resolution Regime will be time- and re­source-in­tens­ive for firms...
HM Treasury is proposing to introduce an Insurer Resolution Regime (IRR). The regime will provide the Bank of England (BoE) with tools to manage the failure of insurance companies. The aim of the proposed...
24/11/2022
Unlocking the potential of Solvency II?
According to the HMT Response, the majority of its proposals were supported by the evidence collected as part of the consultation process[3], namely the proposals to: change the calculation of the risk...
23/11/2022
Unlocking the potential of Solvency II?
Few Autumn Statements have been of as much interest to insurers (and annuity insurers, in particular) as the one delivered by Jeremy Hunt on 17 November 2022. With a promise of “unlock[ing] tens of...
16/08/2021
CMS advises MetLife on sale of operations in Poland and Greece to NN Group
International law firm CMS has advised MetLife on its agreement to sell its operations in Poland and Greece to NN Group, a Neth­er­lands-based insurer, for total consideration of US $738 million, including...
03/03/2021
CMS advises Phoenix Group on its ongoing partnership with Standard Life...
International law firm CMS has advised Phoenix Group on a new arrangement with Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA), which significantly simplifies their strategic partnership, enabling Phoenix to control its...
11/12/2020
Court of Appeal overturns the High Court’s decision in Pruden­tial-Rothesay...
Process During a Part VII scheme affected policyholders have to be consulted (but not granted a right of veto or vote), regulatory approval must be sought from the PRA and the FCA and an independent expert...
11/12/2020
Court of Appeal overturns the High Court’s decision in Pruden­tial-Rothesay...
Context Without Part VII transfers the UK life market would be very different. Once a Part VII transfer is effective, it will transfer retail policies, buy-in contracts, reinsurance and other connected...