XL Catlin hired a former Chubb executive and another expert who will be charged with helping to build up its M&A insurance business in North America.

Ex-Chubb exec Michael McGowan and Joseph Laws were both named as directors of M&A Insurance in North America for XL Catlin. They’ll be based in New York, and both will report to Brian Benjamin, head of XL Catlin’s Global M&A Insurance business.

McGowan was most recently at Chubb, in the role of vice president, where he helped build out the insurer’s Transactional Risk practice. He also led the structuring and underwriting of Representations and Warranties insurance and other transaction-based products at the insurer.

Before Chubb, McGowan was an M&A and private equity attorney in-house at Focus Financial Partners and as an associate at the law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP.

Laws was previously at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where he advised private equity funds, as well as public and private companies, regarding mergers, acquisitions, leveraged finance, equity investment, joint venture and other commercial transactions.

Most recently, Laws was at DLA Piper LLP, where he developed his M&A practice and acted as underwriter’s counsel for a number of representations and warranties insurers.

Benjamin said he sees the M&A insurance space as growing rapidly and ripe with business opportunities.

“The continued expansion of the global M&A transactional risk insurance market, with private equity firms and strategic buyers increasingly realizing the benefits of these products as critical to executing on their M&A strategies, offers us an opportunity to build on XL Catlin’s track record of delivering underwriting excellence and offering innovative solutions for complex risks,” Benjamin noted in prepared remarks.

Source: XL Catlin