Norton Rose Fulbright has advised UK-based reinsurance legacy specialist Compre Holdings on the acquisition of German run-off specialist Hamburger Internationale Rückversicherung AG (HIR), including its subsidiaries Pavant SAS (reinsurance business in run-off; Paris) and Chiltington International Holdings Limited, based in London. The businesses were acquired from Tawa plc. The transaction is subject to the approval of the relevant regulatory authorities.

The deal, which is the company’s first acquisition in Germany, forms part of Compre’s European growth strategy. Compre aims to make further acquisitions of insurance and reinsurance portfolios in run-off with values of up to €100m over the coming years. The acquisition of HIR gives Compre a presence in two major German insurance hubs – Hamburg and Munich – underlining its commitment to Germany, Europe’s largest market for legacy business, and the wider German speaking markets.

Compre Holdings is a specialist UK headquartered insurance and reinsurance legacy business with over 30 years’ experience in delivering consultancy and managed services to the international insurance industry.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised on a series of run-off deals, the most recent includes advising Württembergische Versicherung AG on the sale of a portfolio of discontinued business to DARAG Deutsche Versicherungs- und Rückversicherungs-AG in September 2013. The German team had also advised Compre on the establishment of its German branch in Munich.

The Norton Rose Fulbright team was led by Munich-based partner Eva-Maria Barbosa and London-based partner David Whear, assisted by Rima Höche (Munich) and Matthew Foster (London).

Employment law advice was provided by partner Katrin Scheicht (Munich) and tax advice by partners Uwe Eppler (Hamburg) and Dominic Stuttaford (London).

Advice on French law was provided by Paris-based partner Bénédicte Denis, assisted by Diane Odier.

The inhouse lawyer for Tawa was Marvin Mohn.