Nick Williams

Nicholas R. Williams

Partner
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Nick Williams focuses his practice on mergers, acquisitions and capital markets transactions in both the property and casualty and life and health insurance industries.

Nick has assisted clients on all manner of insurance-related needs, including reinsurance, brokering, demutualizations, insolvencies, captive insurer formations, licensings and coverage issues, and has represented clients in the governmental as well as the private sector. He also has considerable experience in insurance-related capital markets transactions, including IPOs, private placements, 144A and Regulation S offerings, primary and secondary equity offerings and contingent capital transactions.

Nick Williams focuses his practice on mergers, acquisitions and capital markets transactions in both the property and casualty and life and health insurance industries.

Nick has assisted clients on all manner of insurance-related needs, including reinsurance, brokering, demutualizations, insolvencies, captive insurer formations, licensings and coverage issues, and has represented clients in the governmental as well as the private sector. He also has considerable experience in insurance-related capital markets transactions, including IPOs, private placements, 144A and Regulation S offerings, primary and secondary equity offerings and contingent capital transactions.

In recent years, Nick has led the development of Basel III-compliant insurance products which provide capital relief for global banks and other financial institutions, and he has guided numerous major U.S. and international institutions in this space. He is also an acknowledged leader in the life settlement industry, having participated in many of the largest and most notable transactions worldwide.

Nick is frequently called upon by boards of directors and senior executives for assistance with their directors' and officers' (D&O) insurance coverage needs.

Nick’s representative experience includes:

  • Advising Apollo in its purchase from AIG of a portfolio of life settlements with a face value of US$8 billion. This was the largest life settlement transaction in history, comprising over 2,800 policies.
  • Advising China Minsheng Investment Corp., Ltd in its US$2.6 billion acquisition of Sirius International Insurance Group Ltd.
  • Advising Independence Holding Company in its US$152 million sale of IHC Risk Solutions to Swiss Re
  • Advising MasterCard International in the restructuring of its worldwide (100+ countries) insurance operations
  • Advising Royal Bank of Scotland in the sale of its life settlement portfolio
  • Advising IBM in the restructuring of its international trade credit insurance program
  • Advising Deutsche Bank in its sale of a life settlement portfolio
  • Advising Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group in the US$250 million acquisition of Towers Watson's reinsurance brokering business
  • Advising the New York Insurance Department in connection with the demutualization of Prudential Insurance Company
  • Advising the New York Insurance Department in connection with the demutualization of John Hancock Insurance Company
  • Advising the New Hampshire, California, Illinois, Indiana, New York and Texas Insurance Departments in connection with the rehabilitation of The Home Insurance Company
  • US$255 million sale via auction by Fortress Investment Group of its portfolio of Phoenix life insurance settlements
  • Comprehensive restructuring of Deutsche Bank London AG’s life settlement program
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CREDENTIALS
Education
  • A.B., Brown University, 1984
    Phi Beta Kappa
  • J.D., Columbia Law School, 1988
    Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar
Bar Admissions
  • New York
Professional Affiliations
    • Member, Life Insurance Council of New York
    • Member, Life Insurance Settlement Association
Awards & Recognitions
    • Named, Recognized Lawyer, The Legal 500 (2022)
    • Named, Chambers USA, Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory (2018-2020)
Community Leadership
    • Director and Past President, Columbia Law School Association
    • Chairman and Director, Art Beyond Sight
    • Secretary and Director, Urban Upbound