January 2008/2

With six significant M&A deals in the Lloyd's sector since the takeover of Wellington Underwriting by Catlin Group in December 2006 - including two agreed transactions last month - the theme looks set to continue this year.

New Marsh CEO Dan Glaser wasted little time in stamping his authority on the broker as the MMC subsidiary made its second management reshuffle in a matter of months as part of an organisational restructure to "improve efficiencies".

R&Q Re (Bermuda) Ltd is set to go live on the island during the first quarter of this year after recently listed UK run-off firm Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings (R&Q) received regulatory approval.

It was former CEO Maurice "Hank" Greenberg's concern over the falling share price of American International Group Inc (AIG) that prompted an allegedly sham finite reinsurance deal with Gen Re, a US court was told earlier this month.

Sub-prime related writedowns have so far wiped more than $170bn from the balance sheets of companies worldwide, according to data compiled by information provider Advisen.

With Lloyd's global capacity thought to see a moderate fall at the start of 2008, new start-ups have played a significant part in offsetting de-emptions by some of the market’s larger players.

Renewable energy insurer GCube has opened for business offering up to $600mn cover per project, for onshore and offshore, with capacity provided by a consortium of Lloyd’s underwriters.

The London market has begun its fight back against "unfounded" findings in the EU competition inquiry into business insurance criticising subscription market practices.

Ex-Liberty Syndicates duo Sean Dalton and Andrew Elliot are poised to launch the latest reinsurance-to-close (RITC) Lloyd's syndicate, with funding to write in excess of £100mn of transactions on open years, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

More than $2.7bn of sidecar capacity is available to reinsurers for 2008, despite unfavourable market conditions of falling rates and an excess of traditional capacity, not generally suited to the high returns sought by investors.

The sub-prime related professional liability (PL) litigation faced by US financial services firm State Street Corp has set alarm bells ringing among errors and omissions (E&O) insurers.

A suit against Credit Suisse filed by Florida insurer Bankers Life Insurance over losses on investment-grade bonds backed by sub-prime mortgages sold by the bank is expected to become a "bellwether" for legal action relating to the credit turmoil.