June 2007/2

Ironshore builds US presence; Paris Re confirms IPO plans; RIMS calls for mandatory disclosure; Swiss Re to sell UK life operation; Greenlight raises $258mn in IPO; QBE states intent with $2bn US deals...

Ex-Wellington underwriters to head Mitsui aviation; Novae launches into the UK property market; Heritage to add international treaty team; Lloyd’s to raise up to £500mn in debt issue; FSA bans King...

Insurance outsourcing firm Axiom Consulting has parted company with CEO Vince Wooding, after a strategic review decided a more commercial approach was needed to drive the business forward.

The latest from the legacy market

Ken Randall, the founding head of run-off acquisition firm Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings Ltd, described 2006 as a "watershed" year after his firm’s net assets leapt from £13mn in 2005 to £50.8mn.

Our monthly column keeping check on US and EU legal and regulatory developments, in association with Sidley Austin LLP

Gen Re's action is the latest in a series of legal scraps over fac reinsurance teams reflecting a recent increased interest in the area from brokers and underwriters looking for new growth opportunities in a softening market.

Towergate has very effectively managed its tight-knit relationship with a small panel of insurers, including Royal & Sun Alliance, AXA and Norwich Union, and its control over a vast amount of SME business...

Restraining order issued against Arch and its new fac team

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity has recently become the resurgent trend in the insurance industry, with most action evident in the UK regional broking sector.

Last month, Aon confirmed finance chief David Bolger would step down, but it was the continuing suggestions of private equity interest which hogged most of the attention.

Despite a recognition that Florida’s impact will be far less brutal than first feared for reinsurance brokers’ 2007 earnings, analysts Keefe Bruyette & Woods Ltd (KBW) retain a bearish stance...