November 2005/2

Shares in Royal & Sun Alliance (R&SA) rose today after the firm received a welcome boost from analysts ahead of its third quarter results later this week. A note from Numis upgraded the outlook on R&SA shares from ‘HOLD’ to ‘ADD’ and increased its...

UK insurer Brit Insurance Holdings plc has reiterated its determination to pay a full dividend this year despite now estimating a £182.5mn bill from hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

Quanta Capital Holdings – a Bermudian headquartered (re)insurer established in 2003 – is believed to have lost two senior executives to the post-Katrina start-ups that are being formed on the island.

Industry veteran Don Kramer has again chosen Shakespearian inspiration for the name of his $750mn+ Bermudian start-up reinsurer.

Berkshire Hathaway announced its third quarter net earnings were $586mn, or $381 a share, down 48.5 percent from the $1.14bn, or $739 a share, for the same period in 2004.

Omega Underwriting Holdings plc is the latest Lloyd's insurer to unveil a rights issue and plans to form a Bermudian platform to access short-tail catastrophe business following the trio of hurricanes that raged this autumn.

Hurricane hit Bermudian reinsurer PXRE Group has bought $300mnn of reinsurance protection via a catastrophe bond following the third quarter storms.

American International Group (AIG) is to restate its financials for the second time this year after finding an additional £500mn of income through accounting errors.

Willis has announced a second offering for the sale of 6.1 million shares currently held by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and Fisher Capital.

Talanx is reported to have trumped the aggressive US buy-out firm Cerberus Capital Management for the prize of fellow German insurer Gerling Group.

Lloyd's insurer Hiscox plc has announced a £170mn rights issue and the formation of a $500mn capitalised Bermudian (re)insurer to exploit the post-storms rating environment.

The online reinsurance trading company RI3K is threatening to throw down a gauntlet to Lloyd’s faltering electronic hub Kinnect, Insider Week’s sister publication The Insurance Insider reveals this month.

Reinsurer Swiss Re looks to be in good health with the group set to be a winner from the recent hurricane season.

Three Lloyd’s insurers all expected to announce post-Katrina fund raising initiatives updated their third quarter storm loss estimates last week, in moves widely seen as “deck-clearing” exercises.

Lloyd’s have appointed the executive headhunter firms Russell Reynolds and Spencer Stuart to advise them on their search to replace the departing Nick Prettejohn.

Hiscox plc is set to become the next Lloyd’s insurer to establish a Bermudian licensed (re)insurer, Insider Week can reveal.

UK insurer R&SA has settled with Wilmington Trust, one of the three plaintiffs in the ongoing Student Finance Corporation litigation.

Shares in UK quoted GoshawK collapsed more than 40 percent last week to close at 5p as the company explained it is no longer able to get access to funds in its Bermudian reinsurance arm Rosemont Re – which became the first industry casualty of this year’s

Stricken (re)insurer Alea Group Holdings more than doubled its hurricane Katrina loss estimates and warned shareholders that it is developing contingency plans for any businesses it cannot sell.

It was a mixed bag as the big three global brokers announced their third-quarter results last week.

Swiss reinsurer Converium will delay its third quarter results because it is restating its financial accounts after an internal review.

The long-running energy line-slip dispute Aon 77 returns to court today (7 November) with the reinsurers appealing Mr Justice Morison’s decision last year which absolved broker Aon of any suggestions of non-disclosure or misrepresentation and allowed the

Bermuda’s latest wave of (re)insurance start-ups is set to be the most prolific yet, with Insider Week estimating that up to $10bn in capital could be raised by new (re)insurers following this season’s hurricanes.

RenaissanceRe CEO and chairman James Stanard quit last week over the ongoing investigations into the troubled reinsurer’s earnings restatement – a move which triggered a wave of negative rating agency actions.