Willis Ltd. on Wednesday announced that Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Hiscox Ltd. and the People's Insurance Co. of China have agreed to be the first set of insurers that will support its Global 360 underwriting facility for the London market.

The subsidiary of London-based Willis Group Holdings P.L.C. said the facility will offer follow-market capacity for aviation, space, construction, specialty property/casualty, marine, energy and facultative reinsurance for London subscription market business.

Willis said it was in discussion with other Lloyd's syndicates.

The brokerage said the amount of capacity allocated to each line of business would reflect market conditions.

“The proposition of access to whole portfolios of business has proven to be very appealing to capital providers,” Steve Hearn, CEO of Willis Ltd., said in a statement. “We have attracted high-quality capital from around the world: insurers who wish to provide additional capacity to the speciality market or expand into new lines of business or territories, and reinsurers who want to enter the market in a cost-effective way,” he said.

“We expect to be able to announce further partners in due course,” Mr. Hearn said.

%%break%%

“By providing a door through which additional capital can access portfolios of risk, our clients will benefit from increased price competition and faster placements and claims agreement,” he said.

A spokesman for Willis said the facility likely would start underwriting in “the coming weeks.”

In March, London-based Aon P.L.C. announced a similar facility in which Berkshire Hathaway participates on 7.5% of the business placed by Aon at Lloyd's.

The Aon facility has drawn criticism from some senior figures in the Lloyd's market who say it dilutes underwriting expertise.

Aon, however, says the facility has been well-received by its clients as an efficient way to bring more highly rated capacity to business placed in the London market.

One London market broker, who asked not to identified, said that such facilities are “not necessarily a bad thing,” and can bring extra capacity where it is needed, such as for offshore energy business.

But concerns will arise if such facilities are seen as a “free rider” on the expertise of Lloyd's, he said.