February 2011/3

Transatlantic Holdings expects to take pre-tax net catastrophe costs of between $50mn and $100mn in the first quarter as a result of Australian weather events including the Brisbane floods and Cyclone Yasi.

US giant Allstate Corp's fourth-quarter net profits fell 43 percent from the $518mn reported in the prior-year period to $296mn, as it felt the impact of significantly higher catastrophe losses.

11. AIG downgraded; Chartis offers $571mn for Fuji stake; Munich Re continues renewable expansion; Mining premiums sink deeper; UK ‘big chill' losses double to £1.4bn; Marsh rings the changes; Gulf Re appoints new CEO; Novae

Transatlantic Reinsurance has partially clarified comments it made when presenting its quarterly results, claiming it had made a "strategic investment" by becoming a corporate member at Lloyd's - despite already being an investor in the market for several years.

Reported reinsurance losses from September's New Zealand earthquake are on the brink of crossing the $2bn threshold after growing by more than 30 percent since November, figures compiled by The Insurance Insider reveal.

In-play Lloyd's (re)insurer Chaucer is set to allow private equity firm Terra Firma access to its financials, increasing the chances that a bid will be made for the UK-listed firm by next month, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Bermudian reinsurer Validus is in advanced takeover talks with privately held class of 2005 reinsurer Ariel, The Insurance Insider revealed last week.

No management team of a Lloyd's-listed insurer has a holding that exceeds 5 percent, research from Numis Securities shows.

Bermudian Ironshore has trebled its size in the last two years to book gross written premiums of $1.2bn in 2010, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Ryan Specialty Group and acquisitive Lloyd's (re)insurer Canopius are among the companies involved in an auction process that will decide the future ownership of independent Lloyd's insurer Jubilee Group, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Debt-laden broker acquirer Towergate Partnership has silenced its critics by successfully pushing ahead with a refinancing exercise that combines £930mn of new debt and £200mn of new equity.

Last week's vast $4.1bn reserving charge at AIG was immediately seized as evidence that the end is nigh for this US P&C soft market cycle and that pricing will be rising by 2012.