BRITISH AVIATION TO ACQUIRE ASSOCIATED AVIATION UNDERWRITERS

Insurer and reinsurer the British Aviation Insurance Group (BAIG) is to acquire specialist US aviation and satellite insurance syndicate manager Associated Aviation Underwriters (AAU), with effect from September. BAIG will assume management responsibility for AAU operations once the deal is complete and the two groups will be integrated from next year. The trading names of BAIG and AAU will be retained, but the holding company of the two firms is to be renamed Global Aerospace Underwriting Managers. BAIG chief executive Tony Medniuk said that the deal would give BAIG access to the US market, adding that it would create “a truly global insurer to support an increasingly global aviation industry”. AAU has eight branches in the US, plus an office in London to write satellite business.