RiverStone International, the acquirer and reinsurer of legacy and discontinued insurance business, has launched an office on the island with the appointment of market veteran David Rocke as managing director of its Bermuda division.

The company said Mr Rocke has more than 25 years of experience in insurance and reinsurance legacy M&A, with a specific focus on transactions in Bermuda, the United Kingdom and the United States.

He has been based in Bermuda since 2006.

Before joining RiverStone, Mr Rocke held the position of executive vice-president of M&A at Enstar. In this role, he had a specialist focus on M&A projects and was responsible for numerous acquisition transactions involving billions of reserve liabilities, the company said.

He also acted as a director for more than 20 regulated entities in Bermuda and the UK.

Luke Tanzer, chief executive officer of RiverStone International, said: “We are delighted to welcome David to our group. He brings a wealth of market experience and will be central to the development of our Bermuda platform and achievement of our international growth plans.

“The talent within our team and their in-depth understanding of legacy and the wider insurance market is one of the key drivers of RiverStone’s continued success.”

Mr Rocke added: “RiverStone International has a well-deserved reputation in the legacy space and has been expanding at a rapid pace. I am thrilled to be joining at a time when the Bermuda and wider markets are presenting fantastic opportunities and I am looking forward to working with Luke and the team.”

Operating in the UK company and Lloyd’s of London markets, RiverStone International has transacted a wide variety of deals — from insurance and reinsurance portfolio transfers to company purchases, acquiring more than $7 billion of liabilities since 2010 and with about $4 billion of liabilities currently under management.