Investors agree to Gulf Re

Middle East

Arch Capital Group and the state owned Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) have entered into a joint venture agreement to establish Gulf Re, a new specialist reinsurer to be based in the Dubai International Financial Centre. GIC is jointly owned by the six member states of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE). Dinos Iordanou, Arch Capital Group’s president and chief executive, said that Gulf Re, which will have a capital base of $400mn, will initially focus on the oil and gas, industrial, utility and transportation sectors mainly in the GCC’s member states. The company will write a broad range of property/casualty lines of reinsurance, including aviation, energy, commercial transportation, marine, engineered risks and property, on both a treaty and facultative basis. Mr Iordanou said that the joint venture will allow Arch to expand its platform in a region where there is a strong need for local reinsurance capacity and specialist expertise. Hisham Al-Razzuqi, the chief executive of GIC, said that the deal is both a strategic long term investment and part of its mission to develop financial services in the GCC.