Thank you for Subscribing to Insurance Business Review Weekly Brief
Shawn O’Neill, Chief Underwriting OfficerM&A transactions carry inherent risks. Transactional insurance, expertly navigated by experienced underwriters, acts as a powerful safety net for businesses, mitigating unforeseen issues arising from breaches of warranties, uncertain tax liabilities, and contingent liabilities. This empowers companies to pursue M&A with greater confidence, knowing their investments have an added layer of protection.
Euclid Transactional stands as a leading global underwriter of transactional insurance solutions. The company’s proven track record of fair and efficient claims handling, coupled with its underwriting expertise, allows it to effectively assist businesses and investors in navigating the complexities of M&A. Euclid Transactional helps ensure its clients are shielded from potential risks, safeguarding their investments.
“Since our inception, we have bound over 6,500 policies and made over $800 million in claim payments. Additionally, we have successfully handled more than 1,200 claims in over 20 jurisdictions worldwide,” says Shawn O’Neill, Chief Underwriting Officer at Euclid Transactional.
Since our inception, we have bound over 6,500 policies and made over $800 million in claim payments. Additionally, we have successfully handled more than 1,200 claims in more than 20 jurisdictions worldwide
The singular focus of Euclid Transactional is to ensure that clients receive industry-leading service tailored to their needs, covering representations and warranties, tax liability, and contingent liability across the U.S., Canada, and EMEA. The company’s seasoned team—over 150 employees in 10 global offices—supports the global availability of these services. Together, they bring over 350 years of collective experience supporting M&A deals. Since 2017, the team has placed over 6,500 insurance policies. These accomplishments have built trust in Euclid Transactional to continue providing the same high level of service. This extensive scale and expertise enable the company to maintain an efficient, consistent underwriting process that delivers real-world value.
A case in point is when Euclid Transactional successfully handled a claim for a first-time user of the product. The claim involved several issues under the same policy, including share capitalization, material contracts, and loss of material customers. Given the complexity and multitude of issues involved, the client required detailed information to support the claim. In addition to guidance through the mechanics of their first representation and warranty insurance claims process, the client needed a swift resolution and investigation of pre-closing activities concerning key individuals who were no longer with the company.
Euclid Transactional leveraged its market-leading claims handling knowledge and experience to help its client overcome these hurdles by narrowing the required information and streamlining the claims process. Regular communication between Euclid Transactional, the broker, and the client was also necessary to keep the claim progression on track. These efforts, combined with creative problem-solving, resulted in a speedy resolution and payout for the client. In the end, the client was glad that they were able to put an end to a significant problem that was plaguing their business.
The company has also helped many clients speed up their deals, empowering them to quickly close and overcome post-deal difficulties.
Insuring Tax Exposure without Slowing Decisions
A supportable tax position can still hold up a restructuring or complicate a deal, leaving management with an exposure that is difficult to price internally. Tax liability insurance has become useful precisely in that gap between technical confidence and financial certainty. The buying decision is less about finding capacity than determining whether an insurer can understand a complex position quickly enough to make coverage commercially useful without flattening the legal nuance that makes the risk insurable.
Technical judgment should carry the most weight. A credible underwriter needs to test the relevant facts, governing law, existing advice and potential exposure, then translate that work into policy terms that match the actual risk. Generic diligence is a warning sign. Tax questions can turn on entity structure, jurisdictional treatment, transaction mechanics or a narrow point of interpretation, so the insurer must be able to bring in specialists without restarting the review each time a matter crosses a border or tax discipline. Depth matters most when it reduces handoffs and keeps the analysis tied to the client’s decision window.
Process design matters for the same reason. Bespoke coverage becomes less useful if underwriting creates its own delay. Executives should look for a team that engages directly with brokers and advisers, identifies the decisive questions early, keeps documentation focused and avoids unnecessary rounds of review. Commercial judgment belongs alongside technical rigor. The insurer has to distinguish between a position that needs more evidence and one that is already sufficiently supported but difficult to accept on a balance sheet. The distinction affects both timing and the practicality of the policy.
“Euclid Transactional keeps underwriting and claims closely aligned, giving the policyholder continuity if an insured position is later challenged.”
Claims handling deserves equal scrutiny before a policy is bound. A tax authority challenge can move from audit to appeals, litigation or settlement, and the insured should know how the carrier behaves once the original underwriting file becomes a live controversy. Separation between underwriting intent and claims interpretation can create friction at the worst point in the relationship. Buyers should examine whether claims professionals understand the reasoning behind the insured position and whether the carrier remains involved as the dispute develops rather than treating the policy as a static contract.
Cross-border exposure adds another layer. Tax risk increasingly sits across jurisdictions, while insurance decisions often need to be made on transaction timelines or during broader tax planning. A provider therefore needs specialist reach that can follow the issue rather than forcing the client to coordinate disconnected regional reviews. The same discipline applies outside M&A, where restructurings, tax credits, transfer pricing positions and other planned tax matters may benefit from certainty even without a buyer or seller setting the clock.
Euclid Transactional stands out as a leading option for buyers facing these pressures. Its dedicated tax insurance practice draws on specialists across major global regions, allowing matters to be evaluated with jurisdiction-specific input while remaining within one connected team. It also applies tax liability insurance beyond M&A to areas including strategic tax planning, restructurings, tax credits and cross-border issues. Its underwriting is tailored to the specific position rather than forced through a standardized review. Euclid Transactional keeps underwriting and claims closely aligned, giving the policyholder continuity if an insured position is later challenged. For executives prioritizing specialist depth and continuity between underwriting and claims, Euclid Transactional warrants serious consideration.
...Read more
