February 2007/4

Mid-tier North American broker Hub International Ltd has been acquired by funds advised by Apax Partners and Morgan Stanley Principal Investments in a $1.8bn deal which is further proof of private equity’s interest in the insurance broking sector.

Bermudian reinsurer Aspen Insurance Holdings has strengthened it aviation and specialty reinsurance with the creation of the post of head of division.

European insurance giant Zurich Financial Services Group (ZFS) revealed its losses from European Windstorm Kyrill will not exceed $150mn.

Arab Insurance Group (Arig) posted profits of $30.4mn for 2006, down from the $48.2mn it recorded the year before. However, the company said it had actually exceeded the 2005 result once exceptional items of $10.4mn and $28.9mn were removed...

Aon Ltd’s Nigel Roberts has become the latest London market executive to be seconded to Lloyd’s as part of the drive to create greater process efficiencies. Roberts, who is managing director of Aon Ltd’s specialist lines and chairman...

The insurance outsourcing firm Axiom Consulting has withdrawn from takeover talks with Capita Insurance Services and looks set to continue as an independent concern, Insider Week can reveal.

General Electric Co (GE) has lost a 10-year battle with insurers over payments relating to thousands of asbestos claims.

Litigation continues to rumble on between aerospace giant Boeing and insurers of the 702 series of satellites it manufactured that suffered generic faults leading to total constructed loss claims in 2002.

Australian-headquartered insurer QBE has appointed John Neal to the newly created position of chief operating officer for its European Operations.

Fuelled by its acquisition of GE Insurance Solutions (GEIS), Swiss Re reported a 14 percent increase in business at the January renewals, the equivalent of SFr1.3bn.

US insurer CNA Financial Corp saw profits rise over 400 percent last year to $1.1bn, compared to $264mn in hurricane-hit 2005. The turnaround was even more marked in the fourth quarter of the year with CNA bouncing back from a deficit of $217mn...

Bermudian catastrophe reinsurer Montpelier Re said the “favourable pricing environment” was amongst the factors driving it to a profit of $303mn, or $3.25 per share, last year, against a loss of $753mn, or $10.49 per share, in 2005.