Ardonagh plans phased move of more than $3bn of MGA premium to the Orvia brand, including its Dubai unit

Ardonagh Group is changing how it organises its managing general agency (MGA) businesses. It is moving away from a regional structure to what it calls a "global, product-led operating model", Reinsurance News reported on 27 October. As part of the change, the MGAs, which together write more than $3bn of gross written premium, will trade under the Orvia Underwriting brand. The move happens in stages, and some specialist units will keep their own names.

In the Gulf, Dubai-based Antarah, led by chief executive Antonio El Hokayem, becomes Orvia Middle East and Africa. This puts the group's regional MGA under the same brand as its European, UK and Australasian agencies.

Orvia started in Europe in January, with Conor Geraghty as chief executive of Orvia Europe and Specialty. In the UK, Geo Underwriting will become Orvia UK after a transition period in 2027, and a chief executive for that unit will be named later. AGRi, Hoxton, Lorega, Navigators and General and Renovation Underwriting will keep their identities. In Australia and New Zealand, Envest Agencies, the parent of 14 specialist MGAs, will become Orvia Australia and New Zealand, with Belinda Steedman as chief executive from 2 November.

Mark McIlquham, who joined from Acrisure, is chief executive of Orvia and leads the first stage, which brings together the pan-European, UK and Specialty MGAs. Group chief executive David Ross said that showing the scale of the MGA operations is the "first of a series of changes".