ILS

Private equity fund Dowling Capital Partners has invested capital with and taken an equity stake in New Ocean Capital Management, the asset manager formed by XL Group and Stone Point Capital in July last year.

Catco, the London-listed collateralised reinsurance investment vehicle, announced today (14 January) that its 2011 backers will receive a payout of $0.028 per share after one of its funds settled liabilities associated with the 2011 Japan and New Zealand earthquakes.

The softening reinsurance market may spark an increase in legacy transactions as traditional carriers focus on writing new business in the face of falling revenues, according to Compre managing director Will Bridger.

We track all the 2014 sidecars as Validus and Everest Re highlight the divergent strategies taken by carriers as the former's AlphaCat vehicle slims down while the latter expanded its satellite

While marine, energy and aviation rates typically dominated discussions in specialty reinsurance lines, there have also been significant rate movements in less common lines such as US surety and trade credit.

Everest Re has significantly expanded the capital base of its Mt Logan Re sidecar to $370mn, well above its $250mn target, the company announced today (10 January).

The 2014 vintage of Validus' AlphaCat sidecar vehicle will be funded with $160mn of capital, the Bermudian (re)insurer said yesterday (8 January)

George Roberts pleased with KKR's 25 percent investment in Nephila Capital

Arch Capital Group has confirmed its tie-up with Highbridge Capital Management to launch multi-line reinsurer Watford Re, a move first mooted by The Insurance Insider last July

French reinsurer Scor has raised $55.5mn for a new retro sidecar as Ace and Argo confirmed the renewal of their own vehicles

Achmea's EUR40mn Windmill I Re edged 2013 cat bond issuance up to a total of $7.64bn

An extreme slide in retro prices is providing property cat reinsurance underwriters with an opportunity to arbitrage their position by buying cheap cover even as rates are squeezed on their inwards books.