September 2008/5

Alice Schroeder's biography of Warren Buffett "The Snowball - Warren Buffet and the business of life" has gone on sale today (29 September) as the actions of its subject continue to dominate the headlines.

Hank Greenberg, the former American International Group (AIG) chief executive, sold 40 million shares in the fallen insurer, netting around $126mn last week.

Swiss Re has revealed lower-than-feared write-downs from its exposures to structured credit default swaps (CDS) as it posted mark-to-market losses of SFr245mn in July-August in its CDS portfolio and estimated further write-downs in September (up to the 19

American International Group Inc (AIG) expects to have a "for sale" list of assets drawn up by the end of this week (3 October), and may have executed transactions in that time frame, according to new chairman and CEO Edward Liddy.

Western governments are continuing their rescue of financial institutions with the EUR11.2bn bail-out of Benelux banking and insurance giant Fortis yesterday and confirmation of the nationalisation of UK mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley (B&B).

London-based independent (re)insurance broker United Insurance Brokers (UIB) has registered its Brazilian operation as the list of companies taking advantage of the country's deregulation continues to grow.

Liberty Mutual Group has fought back against its downgrade by Standard & Poor's (S&P) following the closure of its $6.2bn acquisition of rival Safeco last week.

Lloyd's investment vehicle Hampden Underwriting PLC (HUP) made a modest profit of £148,000 from its opening six months of underwriting as start-up costs took their toll.

Both sides in the US taxation debate were quick to respond last week to proposed legislation aimed at levelling the playing field between foreign-owned and domestic carriers writing business in the world's biggest insurance market.

Lloyd's posted an interim profit before tax of £949mn for the six month period ending 30 June 2008, a fall of 47 percent against 2007's record figure of £1.8bn.

PARIS RE Holdings Ltd has bought out founding shareholder FI Equity Partners BV's 5.36 percent interest in the company in a EUR55.5mn transaction.

UK-listed run off firm Tawa plc saw its share price fall a further ten percent last week after profits slumped on continuing losses from the bond portfolio of its CX Re subsidiary, the former London-headquartered reinsurer CNA Re.