Wachovia Corp. has announced the taking of a bigger minority stake in Besso Holdings Ltd., the parent of the Lloyd's insurance broker Besso Ltd. in London, giving it access to world markets.
The banking company's latest investment, made public on Monday, brings its ownership of Besso to about 49%.
David de Gorter, the president of Wachovia Insurance in Charlotte, N.C., said the relationship between the banking company and Besso was begun in 1995 when the former First Union Corp. invested in the brokerage firm. In 2000, First Union, a Wachovia predecessor company, increased its investment.
"We just felt like it was a good company to partner with," Mr. de Gorter said. Part ownership of Besso means Wachovia is "now a company that has access to the world's markets."
Mr. de Gorter declined to specify the size of the earlier investments or the dollar amount required for the latest purchase.
He said that Wachovia has worked with Besso to fulfill in the London market its own insurance needs for such risks as director's and officers insurance and, through its agencies, to do work on behalf of clients.
The London insurance market is structured quite differently than that in the United States. All business must be transacted through approved Lloyd's brokers. U.S. agents contract with a Lloyd's broker when they want to place certain risks in the Lloyd's market - usually risks that are too large or otherwise unusual for traditional U.S. insurers to want to take.
Mr. de Gorter said Wachovia has no immediate plan to boost its ownership position in Besso but would not rule out such an increase.
Besso's revenue last year was about $26.1 million.
Wachovia Insurance is a subsidiary of Wachovia Corp., the $334 billion-asset Charlotte banking company.
