ARDMORE, Pa. and AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 19, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rewire Holdings LLC and Vida Capital Inc. announce the formation of Merion Square Capital LLC, a joint venture, which combines the expertise and core competencies of the two companies.
The asset manager has established an open-ended fund structure, which will primarily invest in insurance-linked securities with an emphasis on Property and Casualty insurance, annuities and mortality-related products. The newly created investment manager leverages Rewire’s reinsurance and insurance-linked securities experience with Vida’s track record and expertise as a dedicated institutional asset manager of insurance related assets.
Merion Square will be led and managed by the Rewire managing principals, Stefano Sola, Richard Pennay and Markus Schmutz. Merion Square will initially launch with $150 million of capital through an open-ended hedge fund structure and will continue to raise new capital throughout 2019. Vida Capital’s team will be responsible for the fundraising, investor relations, finance, compliance and other operational-related functions of Merion Square.
Stefano Sola, CEO of Merion Square, commented, “The Rewire Securities team looks forward to partnering with Vida Capital in establishing a new asset management company. The ILS market is currently at a critical point in its maturation, and Merion Square will utilize our collective experience to best serve our investors and industry stakeholders as principal investors.” Rewire established Rewire Securities LLC in 2015, an independent U.S. broker-dealer exclusively focused on the origination and distribution of insurance-linked securities. Rewire has successfully originated, structured and placed over $2 billion of insurance-linked securities. The Investment Team has collectively worked on over $25 billion of ILS issuances since the late 1990s. Rewire Securities LLC will cease to originate and distribute transactions on an agency basis and will be a dedicated vehicle to Merion Square for fundraising and structuring investment opportunities, as required.
Founded in 2009, Vida Capital is a $3.6 billion-dollar alternative asset management firm specializing in non-correlated investment strategies. Historically, Vida has specialized in insurance-linked strategies with a predominant focus on longevity-contingent risk. As Vida continued to grow assets under management in the longevity-contingent space, it saw a unique opportunity to partner with Rewire and build a diversifying non-correlated platform. William Tice, Senior Managing Director of Vida Capital, stated, “We look forward to partnering with the Rewire team and combining our expertise into a best-in-class asset manager. Since Vida’s inception, we’ve been committed to generating compelling returns for our investors in the longevity space. We look forward to our new partnership to not only broaden but complement our existing product offerings.
