May 2001/1

On 3 April 2001, after the market had closed, AIG announced an unsolicited $46-per share offer to acquire American General in a $23bn stock transaction - a 25 percent premium over the closing price. One wouldn't go so far as to call Hank Greenberg a co

On 6 March Independent Insurance Company ceo Michael Bright made the following upbeat statement about Independent's 42 percent fall (from £69.8mn in 1999 to £40.1mn for 2000) in anticipated profits:

Continued poor forecasting adds to dismal performance of Syndicates In February 2000 Douglas Morton joined the Corporation of Lloyd's as Chief Analyst, reporting directly to Pat Hakong in the Market reporting and Solvency Department. His appointment ha

Benfield’s $179mn acquisition of E W Blanch (EWB) catapults the privately owned broker into the world’s third largest broker reinsurance slot, behind Aon and Guy Carpenter (Marsh) Benfield had made no secret of its desire to expand its US operations. E W

Willis relocates to Bermuda; proposes a partial offering of its stock in the United States; and Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts announce that they're not quite ready to sell their shares just yet etc.

Michael Watson, the former Chief Executive of Unicover afflicted Odyssey Re, is to replace Pierre Croizat as the new Chief Executive of Trenwick International, the London arm of Bermuda-based insurer Trenwick Group Ltd. Watson is joined by James Giordano,

Norman Salem, the former Reliance underwriter and manager of US mga Global Managers, has upset various Lloyd's syndicates including Alleghany after large losses on his Legion fronted US energy and engineering account.

First City, the independent Broker specialising in insurance for financial institutions, will recruit the five strong FinPro team that resigned from Marsh's Financial and Professional Indemnity division (FINPRO) subsidiary last month. The move will contin

Stirling Cooke Brown's path towards redemption has taken a further step with the announcement of a re-branding exercise and the appointment of Tony McCallum as the new managing director of the Company's London operations. As a result of the re-branding SC

Proposed spin-off troubled by disputed workers’ compensation carve out losses Zurich Financial Services’ ability to spin-off its reinsurance division will depend upon persuading investors that a series of losses, including ongoing exposures arising fro

Dear Sir, Re: Laptop: Diversification of Risk I was pleased to see another reference in your January 2001 column to my 1988 MBA dissertation on risk and reward at Lloyd’s. A few minor points might interest you.