Robert A. Chaplin

Mr. Chaplin primarily focuses on the insurance and asset management sectors, advising on international and domestic mergers, acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures and strategic reinsurances. He has extensive experience in transactions involving financial sponsors and their in-house (re)insurers, asset managers, portfolio companies and other private capital-owned vehicles. His clients include a diverse range of multinational, U.K.-, Europe-, U.S.- and Bermuda-based insurers, reinsurers, brokers and intermediaries — including well-known participants in both the Lloyd’s and London Market — and asset managers.

Mr. Chaplin also counsels on emerging and long-standing regulatory issues and developments (with a particular emphasis on prudential matters, including Solvency II and Solvency UK), schemes, restructurings and reorganizations, capital raisings, life and non-life portfolio transfers, longevity transactions, and distribution and other material commercial agreements. In addition to his extensive transactional and advisory insurance practice, Mr. Chaplin works closely with Skadden’s international litigation and arbitration practitioners in London and around the world to advise market participants on complex, high-stakes disputes.

He has been repeatedly ranked in Chambers UK, in which clients describe him as “incredibly pragmatic in his approach to complex issues,” as well as “innovative, hard-working and very knowledgeable.” He also has been named a Leading Partner in Insurance in The Legal 500 UK. Before joining Skadden, he worked at a Magic Circle firm in London for 25 years, including for more than 16 years as a partner.

His experience at Skadden includes advising:

• Blackstone on the establishment of Syndicate 2478, a reinsurance syndicate at Lloyd’s that will be a multiyear participant on AIG’s outwards reinsurance program. Syndicate 2478 will be supported by third-party capital from funds managed by Blackstone through the London Bridge 2 PCC structure and Blackstone will act as investment manager for syndicate assets
• Optio Group Limited (United Kingdom), a portfolio company of Preservation Capital Partners Limited, on its:
  • acquisition of Circles Group. S.A. (Luxembourg). Skadden also represented OptioGroup in the equity and debt financing aspects of this transaction
  • acquisition of Den Hartigh Beheer & Exploitatie B.V.
• BMS Group on its $579 million acquisition of David Roberts & Partners
• Argus Group Holdings Limited on its all-stock merger with BF&M Limited
• a leading financial sponsor on its investment into the Bermudian Sidecar platform of a leading global P&C reinsurer
• Staysure Group on its debt and equity investment from ICG Europe Mid-Market Fund II SCSP
• Corebridge Financial, Inc. on the £460 million sale of its AIG U.K. life insurance business to Aviva plc
• the founders of Markerstudy Group on the £1.27 billion merger of Markerstudy with Atlanta Group Limited, The Ardonagh Group’s personal lines broking business
• Intact Financial Corporation and its subsidiary Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Limited on:
  • their US$648 million acquisition of the brokered commercial lines (NIG) operations of Direct Line Insurance Group plc
  • the sale of their retail motor insurance business to Atlanta Group Limited, a member of The Ardonagh Group
  • the sale of their home and pet insurance business to Admiral
• BlackRock on its acquisition of Kreos Capital Management, a London-based venture and growth debt provider
• The special committee of the board of directors of SiriusPoint Ltd. (Bermuda) on its successful defense of an unsolicited take-private approach by Daniel Loeb, the CEO of Third Point LLC
• Pinnacle Pet Group Limited on its acquisition of Animal Friends Insurance Services Limited from Correlation Risk Partners, as well as in relation to Pinnacle Group’s joint venture with Correlation Risk Partners to acquire Waggel Limited, Vet-AI, Biscuit Pet Care, Kozoo and other pet insurance businesses
• Northlight Group LLP on the acquisition of one of its managed funds of Carrick Holdings Ltd.
• U.K.-, Gibraltar- and Bermuda-based insurers on regulatory capital issuances (Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 2 ancillary own funds)
• a U.K.-based insurance business on the purchase of a Gibraltar-based insurance business and renegotiation of related commercial matters
• Bermuda-based reinsurers on U.K. onshoring/authorization issues
• U.K.-, Europe- and Bermuda-based reinsurers in relation to large-scale reinsurance disputes

Prior to joining Skadden, Mr. Chaplin advised a broad range of insurers, reinsurers, financial sponsors, government bodies and multilateral international organizations on various transactional and regulatory matters. His clients included Ageas, Athora, Barbican Insurance, Blackstone, Correlation Risk Partners, Global Risk Partners, HM Government, Legal & General, Markerstudy, Medical & Commercial International, Pollen Street Capital, RiverStone International and Rothesay Life, among others.

Mr. Chaplin writes and speaks extensively on insurance, banking regulatory and asset management matters. He is responsible for the firm’s “The Standard Formula” insurance newsletter and podcasts — which focus on Solvency II, Solvency UK and related matters — “The Capital Ratio” banking regulatory newsletter and “The Preferred Return” asset management newsletter.