Source: Donna Horowitz, The Deal | https://pipeline.thedeal.com/article/0000018a-8586-d9f3-abff-95d6b89d0000/deal-news/life-settlements/abacus-hires-romaine-as-general-counsel
The life settlement provider announced Christopher Romaine’s hiring on Sept. 11.
Abacus Life Inc. (ABL), the No. 2 buyer in the life settlement market, said it has hired Christopher Romaine as its general counsel.
The Orlando, Fla.-based life settlement provider said Monday, Sept. 11, it had retained Romaine to advise and serve on the firm’s executive leadership team.
Abacus has consistently been the second biggest buyer in the secondary market, including last year with purchase of 487 policies with $769 million in face value, according to the annual survey by The Life Settlements Report based on information reported to state insurance departments.
Romaine has 25 years of experience in global specialty insurance, financial services and corporate development.
He previously worked at Fortegra, an insurance company, for 12 years and nine months, where he most recently held positions in Jacksonville, Fla., as executive vice president and general counsel, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also had been COO at Fortegra for two years.
Before Fortegra, he was managing counsel at Toyota Financial Services for three years, counsel at MBNA America Bank NA for four years and an associate at Dow Lohnes PLLC for two years, his profile said.
Romaine will work with Abacus’s leadership team to enhance its legal, compliance and other operations, the company said.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Chris to the Abacus team to advise the company through our next phase of growth,” Abacus CEO Jay Jackson stated. “Chris has great experience working in the specialty insurance industry and Abacus is paving the path for transparency and enhanced education for life settlements.”
Romaine stated that “Abacus is in a unique position as the only publicly traded life settlement company and I am looking forward to helping the company attain its exciting growth objectives.”
Abacus was privately owned until a de-SPAC closed on June 29 with East Resources Acquisition Co. (ERES) and the company went public on Nasdaq. It was trading at $7.79 a share at 3:36 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Monday, Sept. 11, up 3.73% from $7.51 at the previous closing.
At least several other companies in life settlements are publicly traded although one company is small, Sundance Strategies Inc., and life settlements are not a big part of much larger companies such as Apollo Global Management Inc. (APO), Blackstone Inc. (BX) and Owl Rock Capital Corp. (ORCC).
GWG Holdings Inc. was publicly traded until it exited bankruptcy on Aug. 1 and now is in wind-down mode.
Source: Donna Horowitz, The Deal | https://pipeline.thedeal.com/article/0000018a-8586-d9f3-abff-95d6b89d0000/deal-news/life-settlements/abacus-hires-romaine-as-general-counsel
