HARTFORD’S INCOME FALLS 14% ON CAT LOSSES BUT BEATS FORECAST

Lloyd’s investment vehicle Helios Underwriting is to raise £20m as it seeks to capitalize on market hardening. The company said it intends to issue up to 16,670,521 new ordinary shares at an issue price of £1.20 per share. Helios also announced the acquisition of four limited liability Lloyd's underwriting vehicles (LLVs) for a total consideration of £9.3m. The acquisition of the LLVs will bring an additional £9.8m of Lloyd’s capacity to the specialist investor. Nigel Hanbury, chief executive of Helios, commented: “The fundraising will enable us to take advantage of the hardening market in order to fund the increase in capacity from pre-emptions, to increase the company's retained capacity by an expected 137% to £50m for the 2021 year of account, and to participate in capacity auctions”.