April 2007/2

It was protracted, and at times acrimonious, but Scor has finally agreed takeover terms with its Swiss rival Converium after increasing its offer.

Munich Re has bought UK intermediary Bell & Clements Group as it looks to increase its control over primary insurance business.

Munich Re has announced a widely anticipated expansion of its capital management programme, with plans to buy back more than EUR5bn shares by 2010 as it targets average rises in earnings per share of 10 percent through the period.

Strong growth in the firm’s Americas division propelled Aon Corp’s first quarter 2007 earnings and helped offset a weak performance from the group’s UK division.

Rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has upgraded the financial strength ratings of Arch Capital’s operating subsidiaries from A- to A with a stable outlook.

Brit Insurance has confirmed the sale of a controlling stake in electronic trading platform RI3K to a consortium including ICAP founder Michael Spencer, and hedge fund giant Eton Park LLP, as first revealed by The Insurance Insider earlier this week.

A consortium including ICAP founder Michael Spencer and hedge fund giant Eton Park Capital Management LLC is set to take a controlling interest in electronic trading platform RI3K, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Bermudian reinsurer Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited has returned to the capital markets with two securitisation deals that will provide it with over $1bn in hurricane and earthquake cover.

It was at least a year in development, but Paris-based IXIS Corporate and Investment Bank has finally launched its new Bermudian reinsurer and its insurance linked securities fund with some $600mn of capital.

It could prove to be a tough year for brokers but Willis Group Holdings Ltd showed yesterday evening that it was still able to grow revenues and profits despite falling rates.

US-based brokers Arthur J Gallagher & Co (AJG) and Hilb Rogal & Hobbs (HRH) disappointed analysts with first quarter profits down on expectations as the top line suffered from the impact of declining insurance rates.

Bermudian giants ACE Ltd and XL Capital reported analyst-beating first quarter profits, but the companies’ performance has met with a mixed response from analysts.

Steven Haasz – a key figure in driving market reform at Lloyd’s – has resigned, just days after the Society was upgraded to A+ by Standard & Poor’s citing “unstoppable momentum behind improving London market business processes”.

Cat modelling specialist Risk Management Solutions (RMS) has launched a new parametric index it says will help draw more emerging capital markets players into the catastrophe risk arena.

Early reporting Bermudians delivered strong first quarter earnings but weaker top line figures as signs of premium growth slowdown in a softening market began to show.

US insurers Chubb Corporation and WR Berkley reported profits up and premiums down for the first quarter of 2007.

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has upgraded Lloyd’s financial strength rating to A+ following the Equitas deal with Berkshire Hathaway which sees the three-hundred-year-old market put its legacy fears behind it.

Bermudian IPC Holdings Ltd appears to have paid the price for a property catastrophe focus with its operating subsidiaries downgraded to A- by Standard & Poor’s (S&P).

Xchanging has priced its proposed initial public offering (IPO) at 210 to 240 pence a share, effectively valuing the company at £500mn at the mid-point price.

Converium has pointed to its first quarter results this morning as evidence that the increasingly hostile takeover bid from rival SCOR undervalues the firm.

Converium has raised the heat in its defence against an increasingly hostile takeover bid by rival SCOR as it filed a lawsuit in the US against the French reinsurer and former investor Patinex alleging violation of securities laws.

Equitas has completed its landmark reinsurance transaction with National Indemnity Company, part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway group, on 27 March.

Steering Marsh and McLennan Companies (MMC) through the difficult post-Spitzer years has led to rich rewards for the company's president and chief executive Michael Cherkasky, who received total compensation valued at $8.65mn last year.

Lloyd's-based insurers joined their peers in Europe and across the Atlantic in giving additional capital back to their shareholders - a strategy that may be seen as a demonstration of commitment to underwriting discipline as the cycle turns.