People and Business: Flown the coop

JOHN CHARMAN, regarded as one of the most aggressive and acerbic insurance brokers in the Lloyd's of London market, has lost his top-ranked five-man aviation team to rivals Wellington.

Mr Charman won't be unduly worried. He's trousered over pounds 100m in cash from selling his Charman Group to Ace, one of the biggest Bermudan-based reinsurance companies, a few months ago.

The aviation team is led by Peter Williams, the active underwriter of Syndicate 960. To rub salt in the wound, Wellington, a quoted Lloyd's insurance company, inhabits offices slap bang next to Mr Charman's in Minster Court, a Gothic edifice off Fenchurch Street in the City.