December 2005/1

A panel of High Court judges has thrown out an appeal by reinsurers against Justice Morison’s 21 December 2004 judgement in favour of claimant reinsureds and defendant brokers on all points in the notorious Aon 77 dispute.

SCOR will acquire one of the last trading arms of the defunct Alea Group after announcing this morning that it has agreed terms for the renewal rights of Alea Europe AG. Under the agreement, the French reinsurer will pay Alea Europe a commission...

Bermudian reinsurer Aspen today (6 December) increased its hurricane losses to a range of $470mn to $535mn (previous upper end of $400mn) and announced plans to raise $400mn in new capital.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has downgraded the rating on Alea Group to BBB from BBB+ today (6 December), and changed its outlook on the company from negative to stable.

Lloyd’s insurer Kiln has increase its 3Q storm losses, adding £10mn to Katrina exposures and reporting an initial range for Hurricane Wilma of £7.5mn to £12.5mn. In total Kiln now estimates that the pre-tax cost of these three hurricanes for its...

Validus Reinsurance Ltd, the Bermudian reinsurance start-up backed by the former MMC chairman and chief executive Jeffrey Greenberg, is set to go live later this week after raising $1bn in equity financing, Insider Week understands.

Rating agency AM Best is set to seal its stamp of authority on Bermuda’s “class of 2005” (re)insurers when it publishes inaugural financial strength ratings for a number of the start-ups in the forthcoming days. According to sources, AM Best is to...

Bermudian (re)insurer XL Capital has announced the establishment of a new Excess & Surplus (E&S) unit within its XL Insurance division. The new unit will be headed by newly appointed E&S president John M DiBiasi, and will underwrite through Indian...

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has reduced its stance on Wellington Underwriting Agency’s Syndicate 2020 following the sudden increase in its estimates to Hurricane Katrina. “The downgrade follows the Nov. 24, 2005 announcement of a 69 percent increase to...

Lloyd’s insurer Chaucer has offered PXRE an exit route from its discontinued Lloyd’s business by agreeing to buy the troubled Bermudian’s subsidiary PXRE Ltd, which provides the capital for Syndicate 1224. The Syndicate, which stopped underwriting...

Heritage Underwriting Agency has forecast a loss for the full year with its net asset value per share dropping by 15 percent as a result. The group’s estimate for hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma net losses on Syndicate 1245 is £3.7mn. This has...

Atrium Underwriting today (5 December) reported its latest forecasts for 2003 and 2004 years of account on syndicates 570 and 609 and updated its hurricane losses for this year. The account year forecasts for managed syndicates are materially...