The Legal 500

Work Department

Financial institutions and insurance group.

Position

Corporate partner with decades of experience in insurance and financial institutions transactions, and one of the leading transactional lawyers in the UK financial institutions sector. Mr Hill has over 25 years’ experience of mergers and acquisitions, corporate and corporate finance transactions in the UK and cross-border transactions within Europe, including the representation of significant US corporations in European mergers and acquisitions transactions. He has handled matters for insurers and reinsurers, brokers and intermediaries and financial services companies in the US, UK and Europe. Mr Hill is well known for his representation of clients in matters relating to Lloyd’s, where he represents a number of agents and brokers. His representation includes acquisitions, disposals and joint ventures, and advice on insurance and reinsurance coverages and on regulatory matters, both transactional and contentious, including representing clients in disciplinary and arbitrational proceedings. Insurance programs on which he has advised range from the coverage program for the Winter Olympics to the world’s largest satellite multi-launch coverage program.

Career

Trained Ashurst; qualified 1985; Lloyd’s 1984-85; Debevoise & Plimpton LLP 2004 to date; partner 2004. Recent representations include: Hanover Insurance Group in its £313m public bid for Chaucer Holdings Plc; Novae Group plc on its return of £32.9m of surplus capital to shareholders through an innovative B and C share scheme; Hardy Underwriting Bermuda in its response to the unsolicited takeover approach announced by Beazley plc; Novae Insurance Company Ltd on the transfer of its insurance business and reserves to Lloyd’s Syndicate 2007 by court order under Part VII of the Financial Services & Markets Act 2000; American International Group in the proposed sale of its Asian life insurance unit, American International Assurance, to Prudential plc for $35.3bn; Syncora Holdings Ltd, a Bermuda-domiciled holding company, and its wholly-owned New York and London subsidiaries which underwrite financial guarantee insurance, Syncora Guarantee Inc and Syncora Guarantee UK Ltd (the company), in connection with a comprehensive restructuring that relieved the company of approximately $6bn in losses and loss reserves; Hardy Underwriting Bermuda Ltd in its joint venture with Arab Insurance Group to form Hardy Arig Insurance Management based in Bahrain; Catlin Group in its £200m rights issue, underwritten by JPMorgan and UBS; Benfield Group in its $1.6bn merger with Aon; Aetna in its acquisition of Goodhealth Worldwide; Catlin Group in its successful $1.2bn takeover of Wellington Underwriting plc; Novae Group plc (SVB Holdings) on its admission to the Official List of the London Stock Exchange and its £103m rights issue; Benfield in its global offering and IPO on the London Stock Exchange; Catlin Group in its global offering and IPO on the London Stock Exchange; Insurance Capital Partners in the launch of its $800m insurance fund; Pacific Life Insurance Group in its purchase of the International Life Reinsurance segment from Scottish Re Group Ltd for $71.2m; Hardy Underwriting Group on its redomiciliation from London to Bermuda and its listing on the London Stock Exchange; Novae Group plc on its £100m issuance of Tier 2 debt, listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Member

Chartered Insurance Institute.

Education

Bootham School, York; Pembroke College, Oxford (MA (jurisprudence)).