Markel Corporation

Absolutely.

I think very topical because, you know, Markel is right here in the middle of all the action that we have seen in terms of geopolitics, energy, and he touched upon AI and data centers as well, which is, you know, this is the season of AI.

And he talked a little bit about how they're using AI.

So it's a very interesting discussion.

Yeah, that's a good question.

So I started my career in London.

I was an assistant underwriter, offshore energy team for Markel.

I loved the London market, but it was one of the things that I was off the roll here eight years, just over eight years ago.

Insurance has been, uh, just cheap.

I mean, you can buy, whether it's Markel Insurance, which is a very run, well-run insurance company, and, um, or Kinsale, um, uh, American Coastal.

Uh, some of these companies are trading at, uh, seven, eight times earnings and generating lots of cash.

I think, as I said before when I was on your program, yeah, the top line's not growing heavily right now because the pricing, premium pricing's weak.

They're growing book value very steadily, you know, um, low double digits in a very tough environment, and you're buying them at, uh, you know, under 10 times earnings in some cases.

Um- Um, some are just a little bit more than that.

So, uh, and Markel has been an interesting one because they're a really well-run insurance company, but they, they, they do is they, they started doing some of the Berkshire model where they would actually buy businesses, 100% businesses, and put them in their portfolio.

And the market didn't like that, and so really hasn't valued them very accurately.

I read the Fairfax Way alongside with its annual reports and shareholder letters.

Like Berkshire Hathaway and Markel, Fairfax is a combination of an insurance company and an investment vehicle.

The company is listed in Canada but is operating globally.

Today I have the opportunity to sit down with a true Fairfax expert.

And that applies to their insurance businesses as well as their non-insurance businesses.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

And how does that compare to Markel, for instance, or Berkshire? Do you think they are competing in the insurance segment or what's your view on that?

For sure.

Hannah Davis Reed, VPM News.

Markel Group Chair Steve Markel has announced his retirement after more than fifty years with the company.

It'll be the first time in the insurance group's history that a Markel is not a part of the Richmond-based company's senior leadership.

Chief Executive Tom Gayner will take over as chair in addition to his existing role.

Markel Group was founded in 1930 by Sam Markel.

The company's latest quarterly filing showed seventy-one point three billion dollars in assets.

This has been the VPM Daily Newscast.

For now, the feature is limited to vehicles in North America, marking a significant shift in Tesla's approach to autonomous safety deployment.

Speaking of industry leaders, Markel Group Inc. has announced a notable leadership transition.

Longtime chairman Steve Markel is retiring after more than five decades of service.

Effective immediately, CEO Tom Gaynor will assume the role of chairman.

David Chu, who is head of financial lines and middle market at Zurich Insurance in Hong Kong, is understood to be leaving the Swiss insurer after eight years.

Markel is also losing Tina Chung, who has been a financial lines underwriter there for the last few years.

It's not confirmed yet at this stage where Chung is going, but The market for financial lines talent in Hong Kong seems very strong at the moment and we are seeing lots of movement between different firms.

Thanks, Aidan.

And actually for deeply niche classes like cyber, it's an incredible mechanism to advance innovation and move in a more significant pace than in, slightly more sleepy insurance companies that go at a slower pace and I understand that having worked in both but curiosity was the main driver I think and being brutally honest I was a little bit burnt out 12 years pretty tough years at that early sort of startup phase of CFC so yeah was was acutely sort of curious as to what else could be out there and Yeah, ended up having a stint at C&A Hardy for a short while.

But then I think, you know, Markel was the next home for me.

Spent the best part of nearly 10 years there.

And that was exciting.

And as I say, there's some fantastic ones out there at the moment as well.

Yeah.

I'm keen to sort of go into Markel a little bit because you built an amazing book there and obviously scaled that team pretty quickly, hired some phenomenal people.

What was, and obviously it's probably not one thing, but what were the sort of key things that helped you get that portfolio to that point? Yeah.