Aspen CEO Cloutier aims to keep group whole in future capital event

Aspen executive chairman and CEO Mark Cloutier has revealed his “preferred solution” for the future ownership of the group, with his priority being to keep the business together through any capital event.

Cloutier told The Insurer TV his aim was to keep the company operating independently, potentially through private capital investment if conditions are not suitable to launch an IPO.

“It's well known that our current investors are private equity, and solving the longer-term capital construct for the business is part of my job,” Cloutier said.

Aspen publicly announced it was considering an IPO in December last year, and Cloutier said taking the company back to the public markets remained one potential option, provided “investor sentiment for the sector and market circumstances mean we will be fairly treated in the valuation of our business”.

“What would look least attractive to me would be a merger transaction that saw Aspen disappear,” he continued. “We have put a lot of effort into building a community in Aspen that we're really proud of. We have a lot of terrific people.

“And so the preferred solution, if not back in the public equity markets, is perhaps another form of private capital that could see us stay independent and continue to thrive and grow as a business, and continue to develop the next chapter of the Aspen story.”

Cloutier added that there were no plans to sell off the business piece by piece. “The real, true value of Aspen is in its form that it is today,” he said. “So selling off a part of the business would be contrary to our longer-term view of how this business will continue to create significant value for whoever its shareholders are.”

Parachuted in by private equity firm Apollo Global following its takeover of Aspen in 2019, Cloutier has overseen a turnaround of the business which has seen extensive repositioning of its portfolio, including a reduction in exposure to catastrophes.

“We came to the business with the view that we needed to take volatility down quite significantly,” Cloutier explained.

“Many people were leaning into property, particularly E&S property, but it wasn't difficult for us to go in the opposite direction.

“Even where rates were going up with the frequency of severe convective storm, wildfire and other secondary perils, we knew we wanted to take volatility down.

“And we did, and the plan worked for us. If you look at our 2023 results, there were $100bn of industry losses, and we hit a 20 percent ROE.”