CONTINUITY, O’BRIEN STYLE

For him, it’s all about continuity but with a dash of O’Brien stamped on it.

At the time of his appointment, GHL chairman Arthur Lok Jack, defended it saying that he was the best candidate for the job and that " this was the way to go." He took the view that O’Brien’s appointment was about opening the door for opportunities.

He also dismissed the suggestion that GHL succession plan had failed in that the company had to go outside to fill the CEO’s shoes.

O’Brien, in an interview last week at GHL corporate offices in WestMoorings, said while he had been to Trinidad a few times and fell in love with the island, it was a big decision to leave London where he had worked as a consultant for about 15 years. He said he took up his appointment on September 1, 2005 but was it a year before that the opportunity presented itself to join the company in an executive capacity.

"If I was going to join a company, it would have had to be a senior executive position," he said, noting that the offer of CEO position at GHL was not something that he was going to turn his back on. O’brien said Lok Jack has been extremely supportive of him. "This is about continuity," he said during the interview, noting that it was the top executives that ran the company on a day-to-day basis and wanted to build on that foundation.

He said the reason why GHL was a relatively easy choice to make was because of what the company had achieved so far and the challenge associated with helping it achieve its objectives : to grow the company in the short to medium time frame and to take the existing business that GHL has and deliver synergies from them.

More than that though is the continuation of a programme of what he described as "structured acquisitions."

He explained that the company’s growth has been predominantly underpinned by acquisitions. "We now have a really good platform to deliver more value out of what we already have," he said, noting that they were staying in the business of acquisitions.

GHL, he said, has spent the last 12-18 months defining its strategic direction and objective "so when I came on board and had an opportunity to review that strategy I was in agreement with it." "I’m sure there may be tactical thing, directional things, that I may want to put my own stamp on but fundamentally the strategic direction at GHL has been adopted. It is very much in line with what I have in mind." Asked to elaborate on his acquisition plans, he said he wanted "good hard currency diversification away from the more windy exposure."

In the UK market, the designate CEO pointed put that GHL was writing gross premiums in the region of $200M pounds, which, he said, explained why their income was so substantial.

He said the company will be continuing its growth in the Caribbean but has its eyes on the European market, adding that this was still at the reviewing stage.

He was asked whether GHL might in the future take on a strategic partner. "We would not discount it from our strategy but our strategy so far and implemented in the UK has been significant acquisitions."

"We either buy 100 percent of the business or an equity stake in the business," O’Brien said, noting that GHL has not done much partnering, except from a distribution perspective. Before joining GHL he ran the acturial advisory project Bacon and Woodrow in the UK. He said he had known GHL since 1999 and had been involved in all of their acquisitions since then.

He described the Link acquisition as probably the most memorable "because you had a Caribbean- based company entering what was defined as a sophisticated property and casualty market. Link, he said, was GHL implementing its strategy, a very defined strategy which, he added, was to reduce their overall exposure in the Caribbean.

"They planned out what they wanted to do and went and acquired it," he said, noting that its acquisition in 2003 has been very successful since they brought the company on board.

O’Brien, who was the GHL consultant responsible for the valuation of the Irish company, said he always knew GHL had global aspirations.

He said the company’s life insurance aspirations are probably towards central and southern America rather than to Europe. The capital intensity of writing life insurance in the UK and Europe is prohibitive at the moment, he said, adding that it was a very mature market and dominated by regulatory requirements.

In addition, the well-established insurance companies there have funds available to explore that market.

On the markets in south America, he said it will have to be a very disciplined approach, noting that the company was currently working on identifying those countries. He sees these countries as having significant growth opportunities, noting that a lot of countries are coming out of recession and are in growth mode. "We believe that taking our Caribbean expertise in writing and underwriting life, health and pensions, we have a good opportunity to develop market share in Latin America," he explained. He said he would not rule out a joint venture in such a market if it meant getting a better understanding of it.

On whether there was still room for growth in the Caribbean market, O’Brien said GHL is not done with this market yet, noting that there was still opportunity in the life, pensions and investment business.

He noted though that profitability from these sectors is going to come "from a combination of an increase in the premiums that we write" and seeking out efficiencies."Our sales force have once again exceeded our expectation," he said and believed that such growth can be sustained." Asked his views on the present crime situation, he said, "I read the papers and what I see is very disturbing.