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Swiss Re capital recovery not just “luck”

03 November 2009

Shares in Swiss Re, the world’s second-largest reinsurer, were boosted today after it reported forecast-beating profits for the third quarter and strengthened its capital base, improving its chances of repaying Warren Buffett’s costly capital injection.

Read more: [Swiss Re] [stefan lippe]

Shares in Swiss Re, the world’s second-largest reinsurer, were boosted today after it reported forecast-beating profits for the third quarter and strengthened its capital base, improving its chances of repaying Warren Buffett’s costly capital injection.

The Zurich-based reinsurer posted a profit of SFr334m ($327m) for the quarter – compared with a loss of SFr304m in 2008 – beating an average estimate of a SFr115m profit in a Reuters poll.

The group’s strong operating performance, combined with sales of once illiquid assets in its legacy portfolio, helped shareholders’ equity rise by SFr2.4bn to SFr26.2bn, beating Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW)'s estimate.

“We expect the market to react positively to Swiss Re’s third-quarter 2009 results given that the share price has underperformed into the disclosure and the shareholders’ funds have...


Poll

How big would insured catastrophe losses this hurricane season have to be to move reinsurance pricing up?

$0-15bn
7%
$15bn-$30bn
12%
$30bn-$50bn
37%
$50bn-$75bn
32%
$75bn-$100bn
7%
>$100bn
5%