November 2007/1

Cullum Capital Ventures (CCV), part of the Towergate group, recruited two teams from troubled property services group Erinaceous last month.

Validus Holdings-owned Talbot Underwriting has become the latest Lloyd's insurer to launch an Asian venture through the Corporation's Singapore platform.

Australian (re)insurer QBE has rebranded its European operations which means the loss of the name of its Lloyd's (re)insurance arm, Limit.

China Reinsurance Group, the country's largest reinsurer, is planning an initial public offering (IPO) after inviting "strategic" investors to buy stakes, according to a statement from the company last week.

Bermudian insurance start-up Ironshore Inc has made a significant step in its roll-out strategy with its acquisition of a US admitted insurer Stockbridge Insurance Company from Folksamerica Reinsurance Co.

Fast-expanding (re)insurer MAPFRE SA announced its boldest move yet when confirming last week its $2.2bn acquisition of the Massachusetts-based non-life personal lines insurer The COMMERCE Insurance Company.

The board of Willis Group Holdings has approved a new $1bn stock buyback plan.

Integro has taken on two international property brokers John Millar and Andrzej Danyluk from reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter.

Although Berkshire Hathaway reported a 64 percent hike in third-quarter net income late Friday (2 November), underwriting profits from its (re)insurance operation nearly halved, falling from $917mn to $486mn.

The management of German giant Munich Re is confident that the firm will return record profits for 2007 after posting "excellent results" so far this year.

Shares in US insurance giant, American International Group Inc (AIG), continued its rollercoaster ride on the New York Stock Exchange last week, twice plumbing the depths of new 52-week lows as investor unease mounted over the group's sub-prime...

Goldman Sachs' entry to Lloyd's with a syndicate for the 2008 year – exclusively revealed by The Insurance Insider today (5 November) - occurs against the backdrop of the capital markets' increasing appetite to assume (re)insurance risk.