Epsilon, Wellington Underwriting and Aster are merging to create a business that will have more than $150 million in gross written premium.

The three underwriting agencies will move into new combined office spaces in Brisbane and Sydney in May, and over time will work under the Epsilon brand.

“Wellington and Epsilon have a strong alignment in appetite and, from an underwriting and customer service standpoint, are similar in many ways,” Epsilon CEO Morgan Long said today. “Aster provides complementary liability schemes for security contracting, marine, pest and building businesses.”

Mr Long says Wellington and Epsilon each have binders with a mixture of local capacity and various Lloyd’s syndicates with capacity for labour hire, property, construction, financial loss and casualty. Aster has a 20-year history with its capacity supplier for niche products.

“We have been referring business between each other already, so it makes sense to bring the teams together and share our capabilities and strengths,” he said.

The three agencies are part of Envest Group, which is majority owned by UK-based Ardonagh. 

Wellington directors Rob Hunt, Peter Gibb, Megan Sheehan and Kevin Corkery and Aster Director Nathan Kerr will continue to lead their lines of specialty within Epsilon, alongside Daniel Tuckwell (liability), Ellie Houston (property), Lester Scott (construction) and Michael Di Veroli (specialty), reporting to Chief Underwriting Officer Paul O’Leary.  

Staff will also continue to work flexibly, with Aster retaining its home base in Newcastle, and Wellington retaining a presence in Tasmania and Victoria.  

“The Wellington team will continue to focus on providing innovative and tailored solutions for our clients and are very excited to join the Epsilon team to leverage the back-of-house support and additional capacity,” Mr Hunt said.

“Culturally, it’s a great fit. Both organisations pride themselves on putting the customer first and finding solutions. We bring unique experiences and complementary skills to the mix, so we’ll be stronger together.”  

Aster’s Mr Kerr says he has been operating his portfolio independently with three staff for more than a decade.

“The ability to tap into a larger group, with more extensive resources, will streamline things for us and give us additional capacity and knowledge,” he said. “Together, we can cover many different business classes with decades and decades of experience.”