NEW YORK CITY-Willis North America said Thursday that it has formed a distressed assets practice that will focus on the insurance risks associated with financially distressed, foreclosed or abandoned properties. EVP Brian Ruane, the national real estate and hotel practice leader at Willis, heads the new initiative.
“The burst real estate bubble has created an avalanche of distressed assets today that only seems to be growing,” Don Bailey, chairman and CEO of Willis North America, says in a release. “Our objective is to help all industry players reduce and manage their risks and turn distressed assets into productive assets.”
Under Ruane’s leadership, the new unit will coordinate resources from across a variety of practices, including real estate and hotel, construction, environmental, executive risks, financial services and mergers & acquisitions along with the company’s loan protector unit. A spokesman for Willis tells GlobeSt.com the plan is to staff the practice with the existing team for now “and expand as client demand grows.” Major areas of focus will include property, liability and environmental insurance; forced placed coverage; insurance for REO assets; professional liability insurance and construction insurance for incomplete projects.
With 25 years’ experience at Willis, Ruane established the real estate and hotel practice in 2005. It has since become one of the company’s largest industry practice areas, according to Willis North America, headquartered here. The company announced the new practice at a Willis seminar, “Distressed Assets: The Hidden Risks,” at the Union League Club in Midtown.
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