United Insurance Company Of America

About United Insurance Company Of America

Enjoying the tax-friendly climate in Bermuda, Alterra Capital Holdings provides property/casualty reinsurance and insurance, along with a sprinkling of life and annuities reinsurance, through its subsidiaries. The company specializes in reinsurance for workers compensation, employers liability, medical malpractice, property damage, and other casualty more. liability risks. Its insurance offerings include excess and surplus lines, such as liability, professional, and property coverage for large companies. The company s policies are sold through large brokerage and intermediary firms. Max Capital Group changed its name to Alterra in 2010 after acquiring another Bermuda-based reinsurer, Harbor Point Ltd.

Its Alterra Bermuda insurance segment writes property/casualty coverage to large companies from its offices in Bermuda, Dublin, and the US while its Alterra Re segment insures that insurance in all of the company s markets. In the US its Alterra E S writes excess and surplus insurance for small to medium-sized businesses. Its Alterra at Lloyd s syndicates underwrite specialty risks in the Europe, Latin America, and the US. While it also maintains reinsurance on some blocks of life insurance and annuities, the company has chosen to not write any new business in those areas.

While the majority of Alterra s customers have traditionally been located in North America, the company has set expansion into Latin America as one of its reinsurance goals. It made progress on this goal through the Harbor Point transaction, while also expanding its operations in Europe and the US. In 2011 it jumped to take advantage of regulatory changes in Brazil by building up its reinsurance presence in that country.

Alterra maintains an equal balance of both short-tail (with a short pay-out period for claims) and long-tail (with longer claims pay-out periods) lines of business. Alterra s premiums have increased steadily across the years, but income from its investments swung wildly through the recession.

Max Capital and privately held property/casualty reinsurance provider Harbor Point, a spinoff from Chubb s reinsurance arm, combined forces through a stock merger transaction. Former Harbor Point shareholders own 52% of the combined company, while Max Capital s investors received 48%. Max Capital s CEO, Marty Becker, remained as CEO of Alterra. A fund within Stone Point Capital owns 12% of Alterra and holds two seats on the company s board. less