Capital markets

Steadfast acquisition; eSure buys Gocompare; Quindell appoints PwC; Integro adds Morgan; Generali appoints Cattaneo; Nelson in Bermuda; Reinsurance returns fear; US commercial rates steady; Aspen recruits; Skuld hires Stallard; Pioneer appoints FI head; AJG buys Blue; Windstorm Xaver; McLoughlin joins Suncorp; ArgoGlobal appoints; Berger adds Wafer; Citizens slashes exposure; AFG's special divi; XL appoints Pitt Normal

UK government-backed terrorism mutual Pool Re will buy around £1.5bn in private market retrocessional protection for the first time, using the traditional reinsurance market for support, The Insurance Insider understands

Lloyd's (re)insurer ups it stake in ILS fund manager to 75 percent

Zenkyoren is seeking to raise new peak-layer cover from a $200mn Nakama Re issuance, sister publication Trading Risk reported last month

The former Alterra and Harbor Point executive has signed up with the hedge fund reinsurer, The Insurance Insider can reveal

AQR Capital Management has hired former JLT Re broker Greg Habay for a new role focused on fundraising for the firm's reinsurance strategies, sister publication Trading Risk has learned.

Global reinsurers can breathe a sigh of relief at the end of this week as yet another benign North Atlantic hurricane season comes to a close, with the absence of major cat losses lifting underwriting performance in the third quarter.

AIG has brought its third Tradewynd Re cat bond to market and is seeking to raise $300mn of indemnity cover for multiple perils across the US, Canada, Mexico and parts of the Caribbean.

Start-up fund Third Point Investment Management is considering whether to keep its $110mn cat fund running in its current form in 2015.

White Mountains' reinsurance subsidiary Sirius is set to close its insurance-linked securities (ILS) fund in 2015, however its Sirius Capital Markets (SCM) division will remain open, sister publication Trading Risk revealed last week.

Ken LeStrange has returned to the market as chairman of Orchid Underwriters Agency, LLC after a management buyout of the Florida-based managing general agency earlier this month backed by private equity firm Gryphon Investors, The Insurance Insider can reveal.

Liquidators of the Mariah Re tornado bond have filed an appeal after a New York district court threw out their lawsuit against bond sponsor American Family Mutual Insurance and service companies PCS and AIR Worldwide.