(BRK.A), (BRK.B)
Australia is the latest country for Berkshire Hathaway’s Boston-based Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company (BHSI). The company received its insurance license to provide all lines of General Business in Australia, and established operations in Sydney.
Wasting no time, BHSI has already started providing property, casualty, financial lines and marine cargo insurance in Australia.
Chris Colahan was named President of BHSI’s Australasia Region, and four executives from American International Group are also on board.
“BHSI is committed to expanding into geographic markets and lines of business where we can provide financially strong, highly responsive underwriting solutions and market leading service. Our move into Australia reflects this strategy. Under Chris’s leadership, we’ve already built a stellar underwriting, claims, and functional team to serve the needs of the Australian market,” said Peter Eastwood, President of BHSI.
Chris Colahan joins BHSI from RSA Insurance Group, where he was most recently Chief Executive Officer, Asia, and before that, Chief Executive Officer, Hong Kong. He was also previously Country Manager, Singapore Retail, and Regional Manager, Strategy and Change, Asia and the Middle East, at RSA. He began his career in Australia at Westpac Banking Corporation.
In addition to its Australian platform, BHSI has established operations in the United States, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong. The company is pursuing its insurance license in New Zealand.
© 2015 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.