Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) announced today that it is expanding into the Property Construction insurance market in the UK and Ireland and has appointed Simeon Seamer to lead the effort as Head of Property Construction, UK and Ireland.

“With the current uncertainty surrounding available capacity for the construction industry in London, BHSI is pleased to provide a stable, reliable solution. We enter the property construction market with substantial capacity backed by stellar financial strength, BHSI’s long-view market commitment, and the expertise of Simeon to lead our growing team,” said Chris Colahan, Head of UK and Europe, BHSI.

In addition to property construction, BHSI in the UK and Ireland now offers a wide range of insurance products for the construction industry including CAR, liability and professional indemnity coverages.

Simeon comes to BHSI after nearly two decades in the construction insurance and reinsurance industry, having led underwriting for some of the largest infrastructure projects in the U.S. and Europe. He was most recently EMEA Head of Construction & Senior Underwriter at SCOR Global P&C. Prior to that he was Senior Construction Underwriter at Zurich Global Corporate UK. He began his insurance career as a London Market broker specializing in construction.

BHSI’s construction team for the UK and Ireland also includes James Emson, VP of Casualty, who joins BHSI from QBE in Hong Kong, and Farhad Dabestani, Senior Underwriter, Professional Indemnity, who comes to BHSI from AXA XL.

Simeon, James and Farhad are all based in BHSI’s office in London.

In Europe, Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance operates as part of Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance Limited (“BHIIL”), an incorporated England and Wales limited liability company, Registration Number 3230337 and Registered Office of 4th Floor, 8 Fenchurch Place, London EC3M 4AJ, United Kingdom. BHIIL is an affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Company (“BHSIC”) (www.bhspecialty.com), which provides commercial property, marine, casualty, healthcare professional liability, executive and professional lines, surety, travel, programs, medical stop loss and homeowners insurance. BHSIC and BHIIL are part of Berkshire Hathaway's National Indemnity group of insurance companies, which hold financial strength ratings of A++ from AM Best and AA+ from Standard & Poor's. Based in Boston, BHSIC has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Indianapolis, Irvine, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, San Ramon, Seattle, Stevens Point, Auckland, Brisbane, Dubai, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, London, Macau, Melbourne, Munich, Perth, Singapore, Sydney and Toronto.