One of the largest independent insurance brokers in the UK has acquired a superyacht specialist, also in England. Aston Lark has taken over CRS Yachts, the latter exclusively focused on large luxury-yacht policies.
Backed by Goldman Sachs, Aston Lark is an insurance broker offering private-client services, along with a host of other coverage. Interestingly, just two months ago, it acquired the pleasurecraft business from another insurance company, MS Amlin. With that in mind, plus “with Euromarine, Haven Knox-Johnston, and now CRS Yachts, we’re becoming quite the nautical experts!” Peter Blanc, CEO of Aston Lark Group, exclaims.
Despite CRS Yachts being based in London, with another office elsewhere in England, it is not exclusively devoted to British yacht owners. In fact, CRS Yachts covers some of the largest and most famous megayachts worldwide. That made the acquisition all the more attractive for Aston Lark. Specifically, the company intends to leverage CRS Yachts to grow its Aston Lark Europe division. Even with this, though, CRS Yachts will maintain its own brand.
Simon Ballard, the CEO of CRS Yachts, says, “In an ever-changing world, we believe the strengths of Aston Lark together with their client-focus approach, which matches ours, makes a great collaboration.”
Speaking about large-luxury yachts, Blanc adds, “It’s an extremely specialized class of business which is facing its own hard market challenges.” Those challenges include Brexit, for instance, as well as unusually active hurricane seasons. The latter has led to rising premiums in recent years, too. Even with these insurance trials, however, Blanc says that CRS Yachts “haven’t missed a beat through COVID, and we’re looking forward to an exciting and challenging 2021 together.”
Aston Lark astonlark.com
CRS Yachts crsyachts.co.uk
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