Warren Downey’s relaxed mood on the video call from London is in contrast to the hectic pace that SRG, the UK-based broker he helms, has kept up since its January 2020 launch and rebranding from Specialist Risk Investments. The firm has gone onto to buy more than 20 businesses, and two changes of ownership, and in October this year it launched a Singapore subsidiary.
The latest sale in May this year saw the prestigious pairing of Warburg Pincus and Temasek take a majority share in the firm at a valuation which represented a 20-fold increase in its enterprise value in half a decade.
“It’s been a good run so far,” says Downey.
“Initially our focus was very much on the UK and Ireland. And as with the change of ownership, one of the ambitions of SRG is to become not only a specialist broker of choice, but one which has found a way to internationalise and at scale,” he adds.
Asian ambitions
SRG stands for, Specialist Risk Group, and as its name implies SRG’s focuses on hard to place risks under the strapline of: ‘Difficult, done well’.
This approach has seen it take a lead role in its home market for a number of esoteric risks, such as finding cover for the waste sector and private ambulance fleets, as as well creating the largest dedicated team for insolvent companies in its home market.
Warren Downey
CEO of SRGDowney says that SRG’s Asia Pac business will also look to deal with some of the more demanding risks that clients face.
“SRG is not just a business made for difficult things, but it is something we’re particularly known for. Our Asia Pac business will be unafraid to look at the more challenging areas, but we are not simply looking to become a global waste broker, or a global insolvent company broker,” he says.
The CEO says SRG has a three step plan for its Asia Pac business. Firstly, set up a Singapore retail business serving Singaporean clients, then build out the capability to place and service complex and large business from across the wider region, before setting up shop in other locations across Asia Pac.
Step one has already been completed with the October acquisition of HL Suntak, led by Managing Director, Lim Eng Thiam, from Hong Leong Holdings. The rebadged firm will form the basis of SRG’s Asia expansion.
Downey says the recruitment of Collin Yap, currently CEO of Marsh Singapore, to head up the Asia Pac business starting from January next year, ahead of its formal February launch, means good progress has been made with the second part of the plan.
East of East London
Next up is expanding beyond Singapore, and Downey quips the broker is interested in everything ‘East of East London’, but he says that Southeast Asia will be the initial priority. Despite this, the CEO is keen to stress that SRG is very much aiming to be an Asia Pacific operation, with Australia a natural extension for its business.
The exact locations for future expansion are yet to be decided but Downey says the firm won’t expand via a scattergun approach.
“I learned a number of valuable lessons from my past life where I was responsible for the specialty offering across 14 Asian countries, and one of the most important ones is it’s not about flags in maps. It’s really about pursuing specialist offerings that are relevant to that particular market.
We have thoughts spanning five or six countries that have particularly relevant specialisms, or specialisms that we have elsewhere that naturally lend themselves to an expansion into other geographies,” he says.
Warren Downey
CEO of SRGDowney didn’t expand on the exact specialisms the firm is looking to work with in Asia Pac, and instead said that SRG is looking to avoid operating in areas of tight margins and strong competition.
Downey does mention potential themes. The first of which is China’s Belt and Road initiative. Launched in 2013 the Middle Kingdom’s ambitious plans to construct a modern version of the fabled Silk Road which connected Asia, and Europe in an earlier era shows no sign of slowing down, and which the CEO says offers opportunities for a broker like SRG.
“The dynamics of what is happening around the region are a combination of China’s ambitions and the Belt and Road project, which is something I worked on in the past in terms of building up the manufacturing and product capability outside of China. Addressing those themes will be an area of opportunity,” says the CEO.
The importance of Asia Pac to SRG’s business was highlighted by the November appointment of Jaya Taylor as global leader for Group Regulatory Affairs. Taylor joins from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty and, while she is UK-based, Downey says the Singaporean’s knowledge of Asia was a critical factor in her hire.
Warren Downey
CEO of SRGDowney says that SRG’s eastern expansion also carries echoes of the Silk Road, but in reverse and with an end point a few thousand kilometres south of the original trade route’s starting terminus of Xian, China.
“As a firm, we’re kind of doing the Silk Road, because we are coming from London, into Europe and through to Asia and Australia. We are just going in reverse,” he says.
In Asia, the natural starting point is Singapore, of course, and both for its destination as a jurisdiction, if you’re building an international business itself, and as a strong opening position. And we couldn’t wish for a more supportive backer with both the firepower and influence than Temasek,” he says.
