Lloyd’s Director of Performance Management Tom Bolt is to head up Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance’s (BHSI) forthcoming foray into Europe when he leaves the market in a few months.

Mr Bolt, who announced in December that he would leave Lloyd’s in mid-2016, will become BHSI’s President of UK and Southern Europe from June 1.

He will continue to be based in London.

Mr Bolt joined Lloyd’s in 2009 after an extensive insurance and reinsurance career in the UK, US and Europe.

Prior to joining Lloyd’s he spent 25 years in held senior roles in Berkshire Hathaway’s reinsurance divisions and was president of some of its insurance subsidiaries.

The appointment of Mr Bolt to BHSI marks the start of the insurer’s expansion into Europe.

US-based BHSI insurer has been operating in Australia and New Zealand for the past year and has also established offices in Asian centres and the US.

Gregor Koehler, the CEO of Pallas Versicherung, the insurance arm of German pharmaceuticals giant Bayer, has been named as BHSI’s Northern Europe President, based in Cologne.

BHSI President and CEO Peter Eastwood says expansion into Europe “is a natural next step in the maturation of BHSI, and an important milestone in growing our global footprint”.