ACQUISITIONS LIFT ENSTAR’S 2015 PREMIUMS AND INCOME

Bermudian underwriting and run-off firm Enstar Group saw its 2015 net earnings rise 3.1% to $220.3m, as several acquisitions and other transactions during the year helped boost premiums by 30% to $839.1m and offset a swing to $41.3m in realised and unrealised losses from year-earlier gains of $62.6m. The acquisitions also raised incurred losses to $104.3m from $9.1m. The group’s new acquisitions included European non-life and life insurer Alpha Insurance (the former Nationale Suisse Assurance), Wilton Re Life Settlements and US property/casualty, specialty and workers’ compensation group Sussex Insurance (the former Companion Property and Casualty Insurance). Significant transactions during the year included two reinsurance deals with Canada’s Sun Life Assurance and its US branch, two coinsurance agreements with the ReliaStar Life Insurance unit of Voya Financial, and a loss portfolio transfer reinsurance deal with Reciprocal of America. Last month, Enstar also announced a deal to reinsure certain portfolios of Allianz’s US run-off business, under which it will assume around $1.1bn of reinsurance reserves.