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.

Following Fitch Ratings' move to upgrade its insurance financial rating on Lloyd's to A+ as the first phase of the Equitas deal closed, industry-watchers will be waiting to see if rival Standard & Poor’s (S&P) follows suit.

If, as expected, its proposed reverse merger deal with Argonaut Group successfully concludes this summer, Bermudian reinsurer PXRE will have completed a remarkable turnaround.

Sciemus Ltd, which last year entered the satellite insurance market with the $250mn LibSat consortium, is looking to replicate the model on a larger scale in power, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Ark starts trading; Leinster misses 1/4 deadline on capital shortfall

The prospect of another controversial defection among leading faculatative reinsurance brokers emerged this month with news – first revealed by The Insurance Insider – that Integro Ltd has poached a trio of senior Guy Carpenter executives...

Capita, the giant UK outsourcing firm, has completed the acquisition of run-off consultants Claims Management Group Ltd (CMGL) for consideration of £32mn from UK private equity firm Sovereign Capital Partners LLP.

A principles-based rather than a rules-based approach not just to regulation but to running the entire industry should be embraced by the industry, according to Joe Plumeri, chairman and CEO of Willis.

Benfield Group’s dedicated approach to rebuilding its facultative operations following the defection of Elliot Richardson saw the reinsurance specialist swoop for Paragon International Insurance Brokers Ltd’s Julian Hall

Last year, the UK authorities unveiled the prospect of UK ISPVs as a sign they were listening to complaints about London’s relative lack of global competitiveness. So what has gone wrong?

Last month's SelectCat launch by Guy Carpenter was the latest in a line of index-based offerings to hit the market as brokers look to create alternative capacity for property catastrophe reinsurance risk.

By John Helmer in Washington

In a year where it would be nearly impossible to make an underwriting loss, Lloyd's revealed that insurers on its platform posted a "record" profit in 2006 of almost £3.7bn.

PRO Insurance Solutions Ltd, the proposed Scheme Manager of the WFUM Pools Scheme, has confirmed that the 14 WFUM pools scheme companies are applying to the UK High Court for sanction of the proposed schemes.

Flagstone shares forge ahead after shaky start; Wurtt gets Best A- despite rival downgrade; Nephila to grow weather market; Cuomo gets go-ahead for Liberty Mutual suit...

Private equity firm to buy Alea for £162mn; Xchanging in £400mn+ IPO bid; QBE launches PI division; Royal settles student loans dispute with MBIA; Lloyd’s welcomes UK tax cut...

The spectre of asbestos returned to haunt reinsurance giant Munich Re as it revealed in its full annual report a $600mn strengthening of loss reserves for related claims at its US operation.

QBE Limit and Markel are set for a November High Court showdown with broker Surety Guarantee Consultants Ltd (SGC) over allegations of fraud in connection with construction bonds it issued as a coverholder.

As the exodus of Lloyd's insurers to Bermuda has gathered pace, anecdotal evidence continues to suggest interest from Bermudians in making the opposite journey across the Atlantic.

As capital pressures continue to ease for reinsurers, rates in the US are likely to drop by up to 20 percent at 1/6 and 1/7 renewals in certain lines, according to a report by broker Aon Re.

An opening ceremony, hosted by the Lloyd's chairman Lord Levene, will be held in Shanghai on 16 April to launch the Society's new Chinese onshore reinsurance operation.

In 2003, when Rolf Tolle joined Lloyd's as its first Franchise Performance director, the market was still in remission following the devastation of the World Trade Center losses and the enervating casualty losses of the late nineties.

Our monthly column keeping check on US and EU legal and regulatory developments, in association with Sidley Austin LLP

Ruxley Ventures, the London based firm which specialises in acquiring legacy businesses, is in talks to buy a run-off unit from Italian giant Generali, The Insurance Insider understands.

Maurice "Hank" Greenberg sold another chunk of his American International Group (AIG) shares netting around $28mn last month. Greenberg sold 400,000 shares at an average price of $69.86 each, adding to the sales he made last year.