Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance has entered into an agreement to acquire the remaining 60 percent of Canopius Group, the London based specialty insurer, alongside funds managed by KKR and the Korea Investment Corporation, Canopius announced on Monday. The shares are being bought from Canopius’s other existing shareholders, including Fidentia Fortuna Holdings, the controlling consortium led by Centerbridge Partners. Samsung Fire will take an additional 40.6 percent, raising its ownership to 80.6 percent, while KKR will hold 12.1 percent and KIC 7.3 percent, subject to minor adjustments at closing.
Samsung Fire’s own regulatory disclosure, carried by Yonhap, puts its additional purchase at 405,316,526 shares of Fortuna Topco, the Jersey based holding company for Canopius, for about 2.2647 trillion won, with a planned share acquisition date of March 31, 2027 and the stated purpose of acquiring management control of Canopius. Korean reporting put the value of the full transaction for the remaining 60 percent at approximately $2.2 billion, about 2.97 trillion won. The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.
The acquisition caps a seven year build. Samsung Fire first invested in Fortuna Topco in 2019 and raised its stake to 40 percent through a further investment in 2025, and Canopius framed the deal as the culmination of that partnership. Canopius underwrites through Lloyd’s Syndicate 4444, a US surplus lines insurer and a Bermuda reinsurer, with offices in Australia, Bermuda, Singapore, the UK and the US. Samsung Fire chief executive Munhwa Lee called the acquisition a pivotal step toward becoming a truly global insurer and said the company would preserve Canopius’s expertise and autonomy, while Canopius chief executive Neil Robertson said the deal brings the group permanent capital and an owner with a long term view.