Markel Catco

The company no longer has any exposure to reinsurance contracts.

The capital being returned to shareholders is part of a compulsory partial redemption.

The manager is hopeful of closing all contracts by the end of 2024.

The fund has nine open contracts it is actively trying to run-off, four years after its failure.

Interest income also boosted the results, with net assets of $9mn rising to $10.8mn by the half-year point.

The partial redemption values Ordinary Shares at $3.33 and C Shares at $17.50.

Markel Catco reported a small gain for its February result on 2019 side pocket releases, ahead of its early buyout of investors.

Commutation negotiations continue on the book of underlying contracts written by the retro fund.

Markel CatCo’s buyout transaction closed 28 March, as the firm prepares to pay out $106mn of remaining value to shareholders in its public fund.

The catastrophe bond is the fourth in the series for reinsured NCIUA

Courts in Bermuda and the US approved the move, which had earlier been subject to investor litigation.

Completion of the buyout remains subject to US bankruptcy courts recognising the agreement.

Subject to court approvals the buyout should be complete by the end of this month.

The move suggests the Markel Cato funds buyout could now finally be concluded.

The US hearing will be held on 16 March.

A Bermuda court has ordered scheme meetings be convened to vote on the deal.

The buyout of the Markel Catco investors is inching toward a resolution.

A recent final sweetener to the offer led to US litigation being withdrawn.

The 5%-7% uplift came in ahead of a smaller November gain connected to 2019 catastrophes.

With a Bermuda court ruling still pending over the firm’s proposed buy-out, Markel has negotiated a deal to counter US litigation.

The former Markel Catco CEO won a stay pending a decision in Bermuda.

The firm’s listed fund took a 2.5% gain for post-2017 class C shares.

The lawsuit claims CEO Tony Belisle misled the investor over risk levels.

The British investor had previously challenged what it described at attempts to ‘cramdown’ investors.

The Markel Catco Reinsurance Fund and Markel Catco Reinsurance Opportunities Fund have already had provisional liquidators appointed for restructuring purposes.

Markel Catco announced that its proposed buyout of investors will be delayed until the first quarter, as a Bermuda court adjourned hearings on the scheme into early December.

The investor cited legal releases bound up in the offer as an obstacle.

This comes after PIC said it would challenge the buyout offer last week.

The manager has faced a challenge to its buyout offer based on concerns over value.

The pension insurer is seeking others to form an investor group challenging a Markel buyout.

The firm appointed provisional liquidators, with limited “light touch” powers in late September, as it made a buyout offer in the face of legal action.

Markel reported that investigations by the DoJ and SEC have concluded with no penalties or action taken against the company.

California wildfire loss notifications relating to 2017 and 2018 fell.

Markel will provide approximately $150mn to facilitate the buyout of the retrocessional segregated accounts of the funds, as well as tail-risk cover to release $100mn of trapped collateral.

In the later stages of its liquidation, the manager’s listed fund has made an 8% uplift in May on fire releases.

British Virgin Islands-based investor Eugenia II Investment Holdings had alleged fraud and misrepresentation after losing $7.5mn with the retro fund manager.

The return of capital in May will largely go to investors in the class C post-2017 class of shares.

Class C investors who entered the retro fund after the 2017 hurricane season made a 1.3% loss for the year, although wildfire subrogation meant a gain for ordinary shares.

Simon Moore has joined Lockton Re as a senior broker in the company’s non-marine retro and property specialty team, based in London.

The manager has extended a fee discount to side-pocketed capital.

Following the sixth compulsory redemption the fund will have returned $271.3mn to shareholders.