Skyward’s “Rule Our Niche” strategy is now made public

Skyward Specialty is now a public company trading under the ticker SKWD as of Jan 13th.

The company has closed its IPO offering of 8,952,383 shares of its common stock, consisting of 4,750,000 shares sold by Skyward Specialty and 4,202,383 shares sold by selling stockholders, at the public offering price of $15 per share. The underwriters also exercised in full their option to purchase 1,342,857 additional shares of common stock from the selling stockholders, at a price per share of $15 per share, less underwriting discounts and commissions.

The specialty insurer first considered going public in April, but postponed its plans due to unpredictable market conditions.

Founded in 2007, Skyward offers commercial property and casualty products and solutions on an E&S and admitted basis, predominantly in the U.S. Products include general liability, excess liability, professional liability, commercial auto, group accident and health, property, surety and workers’ compensation. The company refers to their strategy as “Rule Our Niche” as it forms the basis of their approach to “building a strong defensible market position,” and “winning” in their chosen markets.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2022, Skyward wrote $879.1 million in gross written premiums and had a combined ratio of 94.7% and an adjusted combined ratio of 92.6%. At September 30, 2022, their stockholders’ equity was $399.8 million. For the nine months ended September 30, 2022, it generated $19 million and $46.9 million of net income and adjusted operating income.

According to Coverager Data, Skyward is working with technology partners Gradient AI , Propeller Bonds and Snapsheet, and it has underwriting partnerships with Curotech Specialty, reThought Insurance, Corvus and others.

Bottom Line: The price per share closed at $19.48 yesterday.