Zurich North America builds a team to support private equity-owned businesses

Zurich North America is betting big on private equity-owned businesses by investing in dedicated resources and strengthening relationships with key brokers.

A longtime provider of insurance products and services for private equity-owned businesses, Zurich recently appointed a Head of Private Equity for its U.S. Middle Market business unit.

Bill Fahy, who has been with Zurich since 2014, was named to the role. Most recently, he held the role of Middle Market Underwriting Manager in Dallas. Fahy worked in New York City for more than 10 years, where he managed relationships with brokers dedicated to private equity-owned businesses. He continued to work with private equity brokers in Dallas.

Zurich has enjoyed sustained success in writing insurance for these companies and, with the market continuing to grow, it makes sense for the U.S. Middle Market unit to dedicate additional resources to this business.

“Private equity customers are unique customers with specific needs,” said Alex Wells, Head of U.S. Middle Market, Zurich North America. “Writing these portfolio companies requires a high level of underwriting expertise and authority at the point of sale, as well as deep relationships with the dedicated broking teams that several larger brokers and agents have formed.”

In January, Zurich’s U.S. Middle Market announced several key appointments to its Underwriting and Industry Practices units. The Industry Practices team is led by John Mizzi, and Underwriting is led by Lynn Zeitler.

Private equity firms are set up to invest in opportunities, like businesses, that generate a return. They raise capital from investors and put these investments into funds to make investments in companies. Roughly $3.9 trillion in assets were held by private equity firms as of 2019, up 12.2 percent from the year before, according to McKinsey & Company.?

According to research by insurance broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., private equity firms’ knowledge of the insurance market and strategic use of cover remains relatively limited. Just 17 percent of firms reported a comprehensive knowledge and awareness of the insurance market and use of cover for capital efficiency, according to Gallagher.

“With the growing market opportunity in the private equity space and increased broker specialization to service these clients, it is critical to have a dedicated underwriting team that understands the unique needs of these customers,” Fahy said. “This allows us to be more responsive, with a streamlined process, better service and faster quote turnaround times.”

Learn more about insurance for private equity portfolios.

Meet Zurich’s U.S. Middle Market leadership team