ILS

The final senior member of the Benfield Advisory team that was merged into Aon Capital Markets in 2008 has left the reinsurance broker with the departure of Scott Maries to JP Morgan.

Fund manager Nephila Capital had been seeking a valuation of around 10 times its earnings in a formal sales process that concluded last week after it struck a deal with the legendary buy-out firm KKR.

AM Best has affirmed the A- financial strength rating of Third Point Re (TP Re) as it delivered a positive verdict on the Bermudian reinsurer's first year in operation.

Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (KKR) has acquired a 24.9 percent stake in Nephila, the leading insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund manager with almost $8bn in assets under management (AuM)

Catco has held its Sandy loss forecast steady after PCS increased its loss estimate for the event to $18.75bn

The new $150mn Vitality Re securitisation for US health insurer Aetna was oversubscribed by three-to-four times, sources said, giving a clear signal of strong excess demand for diversifying cat bonds.

Intermediaries expect 2013 to be a relatively stable year for the insurance-linked securities (ILS) market with an average forecast of circa $6bn in annual issuance.

The newly listed Blue Capital Global Reinsurance Fund deployed $57mn of capital in the January reinsurance renewals, making up 58 percent of its net IPO proceeds, according to a 15 January statement...

SAC Re backer SAC Capital Advisors has been making front page headlines recently as former staff face insider trading prosecutions. The Wall Street Journal reported that the company has warned staff and partners that it could face client withdrawals of $1bn or more this year.

Steven Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors is being sued by investors in the pharmaceutical company Elan, who allege that the hedge fund engaged in illegal insider trading in the firm's options before clinical trial results were released...

The high proportion of marine claims from Hurricane Sandy means that Property Claim Services industry loss estimates for the disaster are unlikely to match the final claims tally...

Property catastrophe pricing may have come in broadly flat at 1 January but the market for sidecar renewals and launches proved to be buoyant...