Issues

Upping the offer by 5p a share when there's no counterbid on the table might look odd to outside observers, particularly given the earnings miss published by Novae earlier this month.

Mitsui Sumitomo's $1.6bn acquisition of Fairfax's First Capital has demonstrated that the Japanese carrier is willing to pay a substantial price for deals which could foster fruitful strategic partnerships, rather than immediately transforming its earnings profile.

AIG is a lead writer of the primary $125mn property insurance programme for Harris County, Texas, the flood-struck area that includes Houston, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Early indications point to Hurricane Harvey being more a flood loss than a wind loss, and more of a primary insurance event than one to keep reinsurers awake at night.

I've just had a terrible idea

As the floodwaters continue to rise in Houston, insurers are beginning to assess what looks to be a complicated claims situation that makes predicting ultimate industry losses from Hurricane Harvey highly challenging.

Axis Capital has attempted to "bring certainty" to its effort to buy Lloyd's insurer Novae by raising its agreed offer by 2.1 percent.

Insurance-linked securities (ILS) managers and reinsurers for Florida insurer Heritage and northeast US specialist Narragansett Bay are facing a reduction in spending by the companies following their anticipated merger next year.

City National Bank subsidiary City National Rochdale has started marketing a new fund that will seek investments related to industry loss warranties (ILWs).

Markel Catco escaped significant losses in the first half of the year to provide a 3.94 percent return for ordinary shareholders in the Catco Reinsurance Opportunities Fund, the company said in an interim financial report.

Underwriting margins widened in global reinsurers' P&C reinsurance divisions in the second quarter of 2017, as a benign level of catastrophe losses relaxed combined ratios.

The Insurance Insider's group of global reinsurers posted contrasting top line strategies for their P&C reinsurance divisions in the second quarter, as some chose to scale back their exposure while others found growth opportunities.