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.

If the recent Florida insurance legislation had been passed in a foreign country, US (re)insurers would be asking the State Department to intervene, according to Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, chairman and CEO of CV Starr & Co.

Lloyd’s reinsurer Advent Capital said it expected to make a profit of £22.8mn for last year, reversing the £74.8mn deficit a year earlier.

Lloyd’s insurer Chaucer Holdings has closed its 2004-year of account with a 17.2 percent profit, up from the previously forecast 15.9 percent.

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...

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

In a further sign of growing innovation between the (re)insurance industry and capital markets, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is to begin trading hurricane futures and options in conjunction with reinsurance broker RK Carvill.

Broking giant Aon Corp confirmed last week that it expects to lose a total of 3600 jobs as part of its ongoing post-Spitzer efficiency drive.

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

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...

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...

Another Bermudian (re)insurer to bounce back from 2005 was Arch Capital, which almost tripled its full-year profits from $256.4mn then to $692.6mn for last year.

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.

Strong growth at subsidiaries Guy Carpenter, Kroll and Mercer pushed Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc (MMC) to book fourth quarter 2006 revenue growth of 9 percent to $3.1bn, as it reported consolidated net income of $226mn for the period.

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

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

Despite an initial rejection of its overtures, the French reinsurer SCOR has built a 32.9 percent stake in its takeover target Converium Holding AG after striking a deal with the corporate raider Martin Ebner.

Novae Group plc looks set to open an international general liability account later this year, Insider Week understands.

UK-listed broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc (JLT) received a £14.2mn present last week following the merger of Continental brokers SIACI and Assurances et Conseils Saint-Honoré (ACSH).

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.

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.