Pine Walk Capital Limited, the London-headquartered specialist MGA platform that is a subsidiary of Bermudian-based Fidelis Insurance Holdings Limited, has launched a seventh MGA.

Pine Walk said Pernix Specialty Limited specialises in political risk and non-payment risks and will be led by CEO Kade Spears and CUO Caroline Coulson.

It said that Pernix was dedicated to enabling and supporting responsible and tangible investment and finance through the provision of political risk and non-payment insurance and would also cover various political violence perils on a selective basis as part of a wider political risk package.

Before launching Pernix, Mr Spears was Scor’s global head for political and non-payment risks, founding the team in 2013. He was also head of the political and non-payment risks team at Aspen.

Ms Coulson has 20 years of underwriting and political risk assessment experience. She was previously a senior underwriter at Scor and has held roles at Lancashire, Aegis and Sovereign Bermuda.

Pine Walk CEO Rinku Patel said: “Pernix’s launch further underlines Pine Walk’s ambitious growth agenda over the next five years and attracting entrepreneurial underwriting talent like Kade and Caroline to the Pine Walk platform is a key part of our strategy.”

Mr Spears said: “Pine Walk offer an outstanding wraparound suite of services, which delivered what we needed to take our collective expertise to the market, and in a fast and efficient way.

“Adding in the backing and financial strength of Fidelis, it was straightforward to see the solution for what we want to achieve. Speaking with Rinku and his team about our desire to uphold an ethical underwriting approach was equally straightforward. We’re looking forward to a long-term and successful partnership.”

Simon Crone, head of partnership underwriting and Fidelis Insurance Ireland DAC CUO, said: “Fidelis together with Pine Walk is continually looking for ways to strengthen our underwriting portfolio.

“The launch of Pernix brings further market leading expertise into the group and allows us to complement our existing offering and portfolio in this space to continue to grow and become more relevant to our clients and brokers.”

Other Pine Walk MGAs include Radius, specialist reinsurance and retrocession; Oakside, surety bond business focusing on construction; Kersey, upstream energy; Perigon, contamination and product recall; Navium, marine; and OPEnergy, onshore and offshore energy liability.