Marine broker buys out original backer Cooper Gay

Management at Hong Kong-based Latitude Brokers has completed the buyout of shares owned by Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford Ltd. just a little over a year after Cooper Gay launched the marine insurance specialist, Latitude said in a statement Friday.

“We are thrilled to reach the point in our business plan where we become independent,” Andrew Brooker, founding partner of Latitude Brokers said in the statement.

Cooper Gay plans to continue to work with Latitude following the management buyout, according to Shaun Hooper, CEO International of CGSC, speaking in the statement.

It was just last year on Sept. 1 that Cooper Gay announced the launch of Latitude as their “dedicated marine direct and facultative reinsurance broker in Asia.”