The opportunity to work for a data-driven, well resourced company with a high calibre of experienced staff and a management team based in Bermuda, were among the reasons listed by Stephen Hartwig when he was asked about his decision to join Hamilton Re next month.

Mr Hartwig and underwriter colleague Jeremy Wright are leaving Sompo Canopius after nine years to join Hamilton Re, which has bought the renewal rights to Canopius Underwriting Bermuda’s excess casualty book of business.

For Hamilton Re it is an opportunity to increase its lines of business and strengthen its position as it moves to become a tier one reinsurer. While Mike Duffy, Sompo Canopius group chief underwriting officer, said it would provide “a great long-term home for the business, especially taking on the knowledge, expertise and relationships” of Mr Hartwig and Mr Wright.

The deal, announced on Sunday, is an amicable one between the companies. Sompo Canopius said it remains committed to the property catastrophe business that it also writes out of Bermuda.

While attending the Rims conference in Philadelphia his week, Mr Hartwig told The Royal Gazette: “It was an opportunity to join a Bermuda-based company that has a data-driven approach. I have known and worked with several of the people at Hamilton Re for some time.”

The two companies have worked together for many years, and this relationship is set to continue. The Sompo group is undergoing a transition of its own after Sompo Holdings acquired Bermudian-based Endurance Specialty in a $6.3 billion deal.

Mr Hartwig will become chief underwriting officer for casualty insurance at Hamilton Re. He said: “I’m excited to be joining a highly respected team of underwriters at Hamilton Re, and to be going with Jeremy, who I have worked with for the past nine years at Sompo Canopius, and four years before that at Ace.”

He added that the deal had come together during the past few months, and both companies wanted a smooth transition. He moves across next month, while Mr Wright will join Hamilton Re as senior vice-president casualty insurance at the end of June.

Gavin Davis, who heads Hamilton Re’s property direct and facultative insurance, said: “We liked the business,” adding that it fitted with the company’s plan of bringing in underwriters and offering more lines of business. He said the arrival of Mr Hartwig and Mr Wright was “a feather in the cap”, and the transaction would help Hamilton Re in its drive to be a tier one reinsurer.