Assured Guaranty Ltd. (“Assured” or “the Company”) announced that the mandatory waiting period under the United States Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (“HSR”) for Assured’s proposed acquisition of Financial Security Assurance Holdings Ltd. (“FSA”) expired at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on January 20, 2009 (12:59 a.m. Atlantic Time on January 21, 2009).
In addition to [...]

Fitch Ratings released its annual analysis of the U.S. insurance brokerage industry. Fitch’s Rating Outlook for the insurance broker industry is Stable. A Stable Outlook implies that Fitch would not expect ratings to change in the near term for the brokers in Fitch’s ratings universe.
Through the first nine months of 2008, financial results indicate [...]

FinCor Holdings Inc. a leader in the health care risk management and insurance industry, today announced A.M. Best has affirmed the A- (Excellent) financial strength rating for the company’s insurance subsidiary, MHA Insurance Company. A.M. Best also affirmed the B+ (Good) financial strength of another FinCor subsidiary, Washington Casualty Company (WCC), and revised its outlook [...]

HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. announced that it has acquired VMGU Insurance Agency, a leading underwriter of the lumber, building materials, forest products and woodworking industries. The acquisition, along with recently announced transactions in the Public Risk insurance sector, will further extend HCC’s reach in the specialty commercial package insurance market.
Based in Waltham, Massachusetts, VMGU [...]

Validus Holdings, Ltd. announced today that Conan Ward, Executive Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer of Validus Reinsurance, Ltd. is scheduled to present during the Merrill Lynch Reinsurance Renewals Conference Call on January 5, 2009, at 10:00 am Eastern Time. Mr. Ward will discuss the general market conditions for specialty reinsurance business renewing during January [...]

National Holdings Corporation, a full service investment banking company operating through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, reported financial results for the Company’s fiscal year ended September 30, 2008. National Holdings completed its merger with vFinance, Inc. on July 1, 2008, and accordingly the reported operating results are for National Holdings for the full fiscal year and only [...]

A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating of B+ (Good) and the issuer credit rating of “bbb-” of Century Insurance Co., Ltd. (CIC Saipan) (Northern Mariana Islands). The outlook for both ratings is stable.
The ratings reflect CIC Saipan’s solid market position in Saipan, improvement in premium leverage and stable investment income. The ratings [...]

A.M. Best Co. has assigned a financial strength rating of B+ (Good) and an issuer credit rating of “bbb-” to Century Insurance Company of Guam (CIC Guam). The outlook for both ratings is stable.
The ratings reflect CIC Guam’s adequate capitalization, sound underwriting result and stable investment income. The ratings also recognize the continual operational support [...]

Hudson Insurance Group (“Hudson”), the U.S. Insurance division of Odyssey Re Holdings Corp. (“OdysseyRe”), announced that its Environmental Products unit will commence operations on December 1, 2008.
Hudson Environmental Products is led by Steve Porcelli, Senior Vice President and managed by Joe Valenza, Vice President. The new unit is headquartered in New York City.
As announced on [...]

Eastern Insurance Holdings, Inc. announced that it has appointed Curt Melville as Chief Operating Officer and Marc Blevens as Director of Sales and Agency Relations. Eastern Life & Health Insurance Company (ELH) is a wholly- owned subsidiary of EIHI.
Melville joined ELH in 2007 as Vice President of Underwriting. In that role, he was responsible [...]