Volante Capital Holdings (Bermuda) Ltd has received “in-principle” approval from Lloyd’s to launch Syndicate 1699 for the 2022 year of account, with initial stamp capacity of £130 million.

Majority-owned by Bermuda-based Nephila Holdings Limited, Volante will be managed by Asta Managing Agency Ltd.

The syndicate will bring business to Lloyd’s through Volante’s existing international network of nine local service companies, which will underwrite in eight classes across five continents.

Volante’s managing general agency teams will continue to underwrite business separately using third-party capacity binders.

“We seek to create a new kind of international Lloyd’s vehicle within the Volante Group, one which champions Lloyd’s standards and upper-quartile underwriting performance,” Volante Global founder and chief executive officer Talbir Bains said.

“Our ambition is to establish a fully aligned partnership between Lloyd’s and our existing local underwriting offices, which will be re-established as service companies to Volante Syndicate 1699.”

A Volante spokesman said that the company expects its future growth will be driven by the expansion of existing portfolios.

It will also be driven through teams offering products and services to niche and speciality market sectors.

These will be supported by new cloud-based digital platforms offering fast and efficient access for brokers, enhanced portfolio management and minimised operating costs.

“Our parallel syndicate and MGA entities, each backed by the world’s leading risk-capital providers, will form an organisation unique in Lloyd’s and the London market, one proven to deliver market-leading underwriting profitability,” Mr Bains said.

“In less than four years, through the sponsorship of our strategic carrier partners, we have delivered a transformational MGA to the market. We now seek to continue the development with the creation of an international syndicate at Lloyd’s, and we are very privileged to partner with Asta in this evolution of the Volante Group. We are grateful to the team at Guy Carpenter, our advisers in the process”.

Asta chief executive officer Julian Tighe praised Volante, saying that as an MGA operation, Volante has been an outstanding performer based on its refreshing and entirely different business model.

“When they came to us for advice on forming a Lloyd’s syndicate, we immediately saw how their approach and objectives would be beneficial to the market, to capital providers and, with Volante’s innovative products and confident commission structure, to distribution partners too,” Mr Tighe said.

“As Lloyd’s seeks new and innovative ways to grow the market, Volante brings not just a proven and practical technological approach but also an organisational structure and ethos which will do just that. Asta is proud to stand alongside Volante in this exciting new venture.”