September 2004/5

UK motor insurer Admiral enjoyed a successful stock market debut on Thursday morning, floating on the London Stock Exchange at an offer price of 275p, just above the midpoint of the indicative price range and valuing the company at £711mn.

Bermudian reinsurer Olympus Re has had its AM Best “A-” (Excellent) rating placed under review with negative implications as the rating agency expressed concerned over the company’s exposures to this year’s potent hurricane season.

London market insurer Alea heralded a successful half year with interims that showed a more than doubling of underwriting profit to $23.1mn from $11.1mn for the year earlier period.

St Paul Travelers was on the receiving end of a favourable court decision last Monday (7 September) as a Pennsylvania district court upheld a previous arbitration award granted to the US insurer, and effectively dismissed a lawsuit brought by bankrupt ins

Canadian financial services holding company Fairfax has announced it will buy back up to 950,000 of its subordinate voting shares, accounting for approximately 10 percent of its currently outstanding subordinate voting shares.

The former chief executive of Heath Lambert Group David Margrett has made a discrete return to the market in a business development role with world's third largest broker Willis as part of a reshuffle following the recent announcement of veteran Willis Re

GoshwawK, the parent of Bermudian reinsurer Rosemont Re, has revealed that it is the latest insurer to face exposure to controversial US bail bond losses.

Lloyd's insurer GoshawK laid out its pitch as a successful ongoing business in its latest set of interims with post-tax Group profits of $10.0mn or earnings per share of 5.8 cents against a $50.9mn or 29.1 cents per share loss in the same period a year ea

Lloyd's insurer Hiscox plc is scaling back its plans to shrink the size of its Syndicate 33 in response to the hurricanes which have already caused an estimated $20bn of insured loses.

Recent upgrades and hurricane impact expected to produce more, better business Fitch Ratings gave Lloyd's a further boost last Friday (24 September) as it upgraded the market's financial strength rating from "A-" to "A" with a stable outlook - less th

Hardy Underwriting revealed the extent of Lloyd's determination to ratchet up its capital requirements by explaining that Syndicate 382's risk based capital ratio (RBC) is likely to climb from a current 42 percent to 58.3 percent next year.

Embattled reinsurer Converium is close to carrying through a heavily discounted $420mn rights issue that the company hopes will enable it to continue trading as an independent entity.