DATASORA

Ground-up non-CAT builders risk is stable to softening (−5% to +10%). Primary OCIP/CCIP is orderly; umbrella and excess liability still prints +5% to +30% depending on account and attachment.

• Gallagher has reported single-layer builders-risk decreases of 5–7% in non-CAT zones.
• Inland marine stays competitive even for contractors with some adverse loss history.
• CAT-exposed and high-hazard projects do not get the same relief.

Desk note — Sompo can be relevant on non-CAT builders risk and wrap primary. The money — and the differentiation — is still in excess casualty, delay-in-start, and CAT-adjacent project property.

Sompo agreed to buy Aspen for $37.50 per share in cash — about $3.5 billion — adding specialty insurance, global reinsurance, and the Aspen Capital Markets fee platform. James Shea framed it as scale at the right point in the cycle.

• Aspen brought cyber, credit & political risk, inland marine, U.K. property & construction, and U.S. management liability.
• Capital markets platform: more than $2bn AUM; 80% of 2024 fee income from non-cat, long-tail lines.
• Expected close was 1H 2026; Q1 FY26 reinsurance revenue now shows the integration.

Desk note — This is the deal that turned Sompo from a large international P&C writer into a scaled specialty-and-reinsurance platform. Every 1/1 meeting this month is a test of that thesis.