HANNOVER, Germany, Sept. 6, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Hannover Re (GER:HNR).
The Hannover Re NewsLetter serves to provide institutional investors, financial analysts and journalists with background information on developments in the world of reinsurance including severe loss events, as well as to share new developments at Hannover Re.
Hannover Re has been awarded the title of "Reinsurance Company of the Year 2001" by the UK trade journal, "The Review". Following on from its success in 1998, Hannover Re is thus the only reinsurer to have gained this distinction on two occasions.
Hannover Re received this award because it has the ability - perhaps more so than any other reinsurer - to quickly make the most of a changing market environment by adapting its products and methods. This capability prompted one judge to declare Hannover Re the most successful reinsurer.
Citing the reasons for their decision, the judges also praised the company's efficient capital management policy, which prefers debt over equity and thereby keeps capital costs as low as possible. In the spring of this year, Hannover Re placed a subordinated loan with a volume of EUR 350 million. The issuing of this hybrid capital enabled Hannover Re to further reduce its average capital costs.
Hannover Re also uses risk transfer to the capital markets as an efficient way of substituting for equity.
As the judges emphasized, through its strategy of diversification Hannover Re enjoys four different sources of income - property and casualty reinsurance, life and health reinsurance, financial reinsurance and program business. In a situation where the performance of one segment falls short of expectations, the company is thus still able to generate good bottom-line results overall. The average growth of 39% p.a. in life and health reinsurance over the past ten years has been highly profitable.
With its purchase of the Clarendon Insurance Group and the expansion of program business into European markets, Hannover Re has made good progress towards achieving its goal of becoming the global market leader in this segment.
Summing up, Hannover Re has been named "Reinsurance Company of the Year" because it has created a stable market for itself in spite of difficult market circumstances and because it has achieved outstanding results.
Hannover Re, with gross premiums of EUR 8.3 bn., is the fifth-largest reinsurance group in the world. It transacts all lines of property/casualty, life/health and financial/finite-risk reinsurance as well as program business. It maintains business relations with more than 2,000 insurance companies in over 100 countries. Its worldwide network consists of more than 100 subsidiaries, branch and representative offices in 20 countries. The American rating agencies Standard & Poor's and A.M. Best have awarded Hannover Re their second-highest rating of AA+ ("Very Strong") and A+ ("Superior"), respectively.