Ep273 Andrew Robinson Skyward Specialty & David Ibeson Apollo: So many opportunities, we have to filter them

I really enjoyed recording today’s episode because both my guests have been on the show before and that always makes getting a conversation going much easier. And to make the session even more lively, we had something really interesting to discuss. Andrew Robinson’s Skyward Specialty has just entered into an agreement to buy David Ibeson’s Apollo. In M&A the parties often talk about a combined entity being more than the sum of its parts and I think that in podcasting terms this is definitely an episode where one CEO plus one CEO equals more than two. Both Andrew and David are strong and unambiguous business leaders and the level of energy, camaraderie and enthusiasm on display here is infectious. For Apollo the deal ends any lingering uncertainty about its long-term ownership and is another reminder of the enduring global attraction of the Lloyd’s platform and for Skyward the deal is a vindication of Andrew’s strategy since taking over what was then Houston International five years ago and transforming it into a premium rated specialty insurer, now quoted on the public markets. There’s a lot of cultural affinity between the two businesses and a similar rapport between these two executives and the next half an hour will absolutely fly by. NOTES: SOX = Sarbanes-Oxley, prominent US Corporate re-regulation of the early 2000’s LINKS: We thank our naming sponsor AdvantageGo: https://www.advantagego.com