Reinsurance company Validus Holdings Ltd. will test investor enthusiasm with an initial public offering it hopes will raise as much as $468 million when it becomes the fourth in its sector this year to tap U.S. public markets.
The Bermuda-based company, one of several reinsurers to stage IPOs in recent months, has filed to sell 18 million shares with an anticipated per-share price range of $24 to $26.
The company initially anticipated raising $200 million in its IPO but raised expectations after it acquired an underwriting syndicate in the historic Lloyd's of London market.
"A successful IPO depends on the pricing. This one seems like it is priced favorably compared to its peers," said Francis Gaskins, president of independent research firm IPOdesktop.com.
Investors will find Validus' price-to-book-value appealing, Gaskins said. At 1.1, Validus is cheap versus its peers' range of 1.1 to 1.6.
Validus, along with CastlePoint Holdings Ltd. (CPHL.O: Quote, Profile, Research), Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings (FSR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Greenlight Capital Re (GLRE.O: Quote, Profile, Research), were formed after the catastrophic 2005 hurricane season and the others made their U.S. market debut this year.
With a market capitalization of about $1.8 billion, Validus is the largest, followed by Flagstone, with a market value of $1.13 billion.
The 13 million share offering sold for $13.50 per share, in the middle of a $12.50 to $14.50 forecast range. The shares have lost a bit of ground since, closing at $13.36 on Thursday, about 1 percent lower.
Greenlight Re has fared better -- it fetched $19 per share in its IPO, and has added about 22 percent in value, with the shares trading at $23.27 on Thursday.
Greenlight has been helped by its ties to hedge fund firm Greenlight Capital Re, analysts said. Validus may also profit from its connections.
CLASS OF 2005
Investors, including major private equity and hedge fund firms such as Blackstone Group (BX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Citadel Investment Group, poured money into more than a dozen new reinsurance companies following the 2005 hurricane season, remembered for the $60 billion in insurance claims stemming from deadly storms Katrina, Rita and Wilma.
Validus, one of the members of the so-called Class of 2005, was formed by an investor group led by Aquiline Capital Partners LLC, a private equity firm formed that same year by ex-Marsh & McLennan Cos. (MMC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Chief Executive Jeffrey Greenberg.
Validus timed its entry into the reinsurance market perfectly. Reinsurers provide risky coverage to other insurers, and generally swing from periods of strong profits to hefty losses.
Validus, primarily a property-catastrophe reinsurer, was formed when reinsurance rates were rising steeply, and as luck would have it, ahead of a period of benign catastrophe activity.
The 2006 storm season was mild, so the company has not taken any major losses yet, said Bill Bergman, an analyst with Morningstar, putting the fledgling company on track with a solid record of profits.
For the year that ended Dec. 31, 2006, its net income was $183 million. Quarterly net income for the three months that ended March 31, 2007, was $56.75 million, compared with $14.68 million in the same period a year earlier.
The quality of the company's balance sheet is compelling, said IPOdesktop's Gaskins, but investors should be aware that losses will eventually catch up with the reinsurer.
"They're OK until the next major catastrophe," Gaskins said.
Validus, like the other new reinsurers, has tapped into rosy market conditions post-Katrina.
"They're not alone," Bergman said. "There's been a lot of new entry into the marketplace, and rates that were high a couple of years ago are declining, and continuing to decline."
Increased competition will likely soften rates, weakening one of Validus' primary selling points, Gaskins said.
However, Validus has played its hand carefully, recently acquiring Talbot Holdings Ltd., a Lloyd's of London [LOL.UL] insurer, a strategic move as it diversifies Validus' largely property-catastrophe portfolio with the addition of war and political violence risk.
Investors will read the company's diversification strategy as a plus, Gaskins said.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Arthur J. Gallagher quarterly profit rises
Insurance brokerage Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (AJG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posted a higher quarterly profit, that was in line with analysts' expectations, helped by a 13 percent rise in revenue from its combined brokerage and risk management segments.
The Itasca, Illinois-based company reported second-quarter net earnings of $43.8 million, or 44 cents a share, compared with $36.6 million, or 37 cents a share, last year.
Revenue for the quarter rose to $440.8 million from $370.6 million in the year-ago period.
Analysts on average expected the company to earn 44 cents a share, excluding any special items, on revenue of $431.3 million, according to Reuters Estimates.
Arthur J. Gallagher said revenue from its combined brokerage and risk management segments rose to $415.6 million from $368.5 million last year.
In a statement, the company also said its board has authorized the repurchase of an additional 7 million common shares, taking the total authorization under the plan to up to 7.2 million. (Reporting by Shikhar Balwani in Bangalore)
The Itasca, Illinois-based company reported second-quarter net earnings of $43.8 million, or 44 cents a share, compared with $36.6 million, or 37 cents a share, last year.
Revenue for the quarter rose to $440.8 million from $370.6 million in the year-ago period.
Analysts on average expected the company to earn 44 cents a share, excluding any special items, on revenue of $431.3 million, according to Reuters Estimates.
Arthur J. Gallagher said revenue from its combined brokerage and risk management segments rose to $415.6 million from $368.5 million last year.
In a statement, the company also said its board has authorized the repurchase of an additional 7 million common shares, taking the total authorization under the plan to up to 7.2 million. (Reporting by Shikhar Balwani in Bangalore)
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Amazon radar failure deepens Brazil air travel woes
Radar that tracks planes over the vast Amazon jungle failed for several hours early on Saturday, forcing a dozen international flights to change course, Brazil's airports authority said.
The radar glitch came just four days after the country's worst plane crash and hours after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva promised swift action to improve air safety.
Four American Airlines flights headed for Brazil turned back to Miami and two of the company's aircraft en route to the United States were grounded in the city of Manaus for several hours before the radar was restored, local media reported.
Flights from Panama, Venezuela and Colombia could not enter Brazil, the reports said. The airports authority, Infraero, said the radar outage forced five other international flights to turn back to Sao Paulo. Radar service was restored around 2:30 a.m. local time (6:30 a.m. British time), Infraero said.
The radar problem contributed to cascading delays of domestic flights in Brazil, where more than half of Saturday's 1,282 flights were held up or canceled.
Early reports said a power outage had had caused the radar to fail. But Brazil's Air Force, which is responsible for the equipment, said it was investigating the possibility that air traffic controllers frustrated by poor pay deliberately shut down the radar system.
On Tuesday, an Airbus A320 crashed at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport, killing all 187 people on board and others on the ground. Safety experts have said a slippery runway, pilot error or problems with the plane's braking system could have contributed to the crash.
It was Brazil's second major aviation disaster in 10 months.
Air travel in Brazil has been chaotic since a Boeing 737 clipped wings with a private jet last September at 37,000 feet over the Amazon jungle. All 154 people on the Boeing were killed. That crash occurred in the region tracked by the radar that malfunctioned on Saturday.
Air traffic controllers, fearing they were being made scapegoats for the Boeing crash, have staged periodic work slowdowns to protest what they call deficient radar and radio equipment and poor salaries.
Delays and cancellations have become routine, prompting some frustrated passengers to storm airfields and ticket counters in protest.
The latest crash put added pressure on Lula to invest more in airport infrastructure and clean up the airports authority. Congress is investigating allegations that authority officials have taken bribes from contractors.
On Friday, Lula promised he would build a third airport in Sao Paulo, reduce air traffic at the congested domestic airport Congonhas and reroute flights to the city's international airport, Guarulhos on the outskirts of the city.
The radar glitch came just four days after the country's worst plane crash and hours after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva promised swift action to improve air safety.
Four American Airlines flights headed for Brazil turned back to Miami and two of the company's aircraft en route to the United States were grounded in the city of Manaus for several hours before the radar was restored, local media reported.
Flights from Panama, Venezuela and Colombia could not enter Brazil, the reports said. The airports authority, Infraero, said the radar outage forced five other international flights to turn back to Sao Paulo. Radar service was restored around 2:30 a.m. local time (6:30 a.m. British time), Infraero said.
The radar problem contributed to cascading delays of domestic flights in Brazil, where more than half of Saturday's 1,282 flights were held up or canceled.
Early reports said a power outage had had caused the radar to fail. But Brazil's Air Force, which is responsible for the equipment, said it was investigating the possibility that air traffic controllers frustrated by poor pay deliberately shut down the radar system.
On Tuesday, an Airbus A320 crashed at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport, killing all 187 people on board and others on the ground. Safety experts have said a slippery runway, pilot error or problems with the plane's braking system could have contributed to the crash.
It was Brazil's second major aviation disaster in 10 months.
Air travel in Brazil has been chaotic since a Boeing 737 clipped wings with a private jet last September at 37,000 feet over the Amazon jungle. All 154 people on the Boeing were killed. That crash occurred in the region tracked by the radar that malfunctioned on Saturday.
Air traffic controllers, fearing they were being made scapegoats for the Boeing crash, have staged periodic work slowdowns to protest what they call deficient radar and radio equipment and poor salaries.
Delays and cancellations have become routine, prompting some frustrated passengers to storm airfields and ticket counters in protest.
The latest crash put added pressure on Lula to invest more in airport infrastructure and clean up the airports authority. Congress is investigating allegations that authority officials have taken bribes from contractors.
On Friday, Lula promised he would build a third airport in Sao Paulo, reduce air traffic at the congested domestic airport Congonhas and reroute flights to the city's international airport, Guarulhos on the outskirts of the city.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Accenture Claim Components Solution Version 6.0 Implemented at OneBeacon
Accenture today announced that OneBeacon Insurance Group is using the Accenture Claim Components Solution to process insurance claims for its business, personal and specialty line divisions.
"Efficient claims management is critical to meeting our primary responsibility as an insurance company, which is to help our customers recover from insured losses," said Phil Sibilia, senior vice president of claims at OneBeacon Insurance Group. "Accenture's ongoing investment in the Accenture Claim Components Solution enables us to continuously enhance our operations and thus deliver world-class claims services."
The Accenture Claim Components Solution is a suite of software components that operates on a robust Web-based platform and is designed to help insurers improve the effectiveness and reduce the costs of their claims-handling operations. It can support more than 300 core claims transactions, and easily integrates with a full range of claims interfaces, including agent portals, damage estimating systems, injury evaluation systems, and self-service online claims systems. The Accenture Claim Components Solution, currently used by five of the top 10 property and casualty insurers in North America, helps process approximately one-third of all property and casualty insurance claims in the United States.
The solution in use at OneBeacon features an enhanced user interface, Web services framework, and Microsoft .NET 2.0 technology. The Accenture Claim Components Solution version 6.0, developed with assistance from Avanade, a joint venture of Accenture and Microsoft, also offers the option of a new dynamic "question and answer" architecture.
"For property and casualty insurers, claims processing is their single largest operating cost, and the most important customer-facing function," said Michael A. Lucarini, senior executive and global head of Accenture's claims solutions. "Striving for the highest efficiency, excellence and innovation possible within the claims operation is vital to high performance in the insurance industry."
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills and technologies to help clients improve their performance. With more than 158,000 people in 49 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$16.65 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2006. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
About OneBeacon
OneBeacon Insurance Group offers a range of specialty and segmented commercial and personal insurance products sold primarily through select independent agents. As one of the oldest property and casualty insurers in the United States, OneBeacon traces its roots to 1831 and the Potomac Fire Insurance Company. Today, OneBeacon's specialty insurance products are available countrywide, and commercial and personal lines are offered in select geographic territories. OneBeacon's U.S. headquarters is in Canton, Massachusetts. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "OB" (NYSE: OB - News).
"Efficient claims management is critical to meeting our primary responsibility as an insurance company, which is to help our customers recover from insured losses," said Phil Sibilia, senior vice president of claims at OneBeacon Insurance Group. "Accenture's ongoing investment in the Accenture Claim Components Solution enables us to continuously enhance our operations and thus deliver world-class claims services."
The Accenture Claim Components Solution is a suite of software components that operates on a robust Web-based platform and is designed to help insurers improve the effectiveness and reduce the costs of their claims-handling operations. It can support more than 300 core claims transactions, and easily integrates with a full range of claims interfaces, including agent portals, damage estimating systems, injury evaluation systems, and self-service online claims systems. The Accenture Claim Components Solution, currently used by five of the top 10 property and casualty insurers in North America, helps process approximately one-third of all property and casualty insurance claims in the United States.
The solution in use at OneBeacon features an enhanced user interface, Web services framework, and Microsoft .NET 2.0 technology. The Accenture Claim Components Solution version 6.0, developed with assistance from Avanade, a joint venture of Accenture and Microsoft, also offers the option of a new dynamic "question and answer" architecture.
"For property and casualty insurers, claims processing is their single largest operating cost, and the most important customer-facing function," said Michael A. Lucarini, senior executive and global head of Accenture's claims solutions. "Striving for the highest efficiency, excellence and innovation possible within the claims operation is vital to high performance in the insurance industry."
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills and technologies to help clients improve their performance. With more than 158,000 people in 49 countries, the company generated net revenues of US$16.65 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2006. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
About OneBeacon
OneBeacon Insurance Group offers a range of specialty and segmented commercial and personal insurance products sold primarily through select independent agents. As one of the oldest property and casualty insurers in the United States, OneBeacon traces its roots to 1831 and the Potomac Fire Insurance Company. Today, OneBeacon's specialty insurance products are available countrywide, and commercial and personal lines are offered in select geographic territories. OneBeacon's U.S. headquarters is in Canton, Massachusetts. The company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "OB" (NYSE: OB - News).
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