May 2014/3

Troubled Nasdaq-listed insurer Tower Group has rejected an all-paper offer from little known Bulgarian carrier Euroins Insurance Group (EIG) that valued the business at a 50 percent premium to the current recommended bid.

Bermudian (re)insurer acts swiftly to replace the departing Andrew Carrier

Steve Cook is to stand down as CEO of top-quartile Lloyd's business Atrium seven months after it was acquired by diversifying legacy company Enstar

Specialist US cat writer ICAT has restructured its core reinsurance programme with a new single-shot layer and upsized its Louisiana carve-out cover, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has brought new capacity from Berkshire Hathaway, Nephila and other alternative markets onto its cat cover in a move that is expected to be replicated by other major municipal buyers of insurance.

The Ekspress-AM4 communications satellite that failed to reach orbit on Friday (16 May) will cause a $200mn loss for the international space (re)insurance market, sister title Inside FAC revealed earlier.

A fund run by insurance boutique and research house VJ Dowling has given Enstar a vote of confidence by purchasing stakes in Torus and Atrium

Enstar Group Ltd has moved to take a tighter hold of recently acquired subsidiary Torus with a round of management changes, as it looks to turn around the business and get its entry into the live market back on track

Willis has brokered $55mn of index-based reinsurance capacity for the first catastrophe insurance pool in Africa

There is a "not insignificant" risk that some customers of Infrassure will take their business elsewhere after the Swiss-based engineering insurer was downgraded last week by AM Best, its chief executive William Bachmann told The Insurance Insider.

Talanx upgrade; Lemma withdrawn; Cat bill; Pay revolt; Capita launches; As does Aquila; Aviva drop; Zurich profits;  AIG disposal; Chubb CEO sells; Lloyd's expands; Catlin grows; Novae boost; Allianz upbeat; Admiral slows; Charles Taylor buys; Pioneer board; Gaffney promotes; Nexus streamlines

Demonstrating that cat rate pressures are being widely felt outside of Florida, firm order terms on USAA's mammoth catastrophe treaty programme have been released with a risk-adjusted rate reduction of 20-25 percent