An increased number of large claims has caused the post-tax profit of Norwegian marine insurer Gard to decline to $6m, from $107m in the same period last year. Gross written premiums were up by $50m year on year to $692m. The combined ratio rose by 19 points to 102%. Gard CEO Claes Isaacson said that "the first half of the year saw more large claims than we would normally expect, pricing has remained soft across most of the portfolio and the investment picture is volatile". He noted that "the random nature of claims is an integral part of our business, and we have the balance sheet strength and processes to manage them efficiently and effectively".

Privately held specialist Lloyd's insurer Canopius expects to completed due diligence on Bermuda-domiciled rival Omega by the end of the week, and to make a formal offer very shortly afterwards, Canopius said on Tuesday. Chairman Michael Watson said that "we are encouraged by the feedback from a wide range of institutional shareholders, a significant number of whom have expressed interest in a full cash bid". Omega's statement followed a claim by rival bidder Mark Byrne that speed was one of the great advantages of his investment vehicle Haverford. Indeed, within there hours of the Omega statement, Haverford posted official documents to Omega shareholders officially outlining its previously indicative plan to take a 25% stake in the company at up to 83p per share. Mr Byrne told Reuters that "the bar is much lower for me being able to execute the deal". Key for Haverford will be the position of Invesco Asset Management, which owns about 25% of Omega and which was a key player in ousting the old management last year. Mr Byrne clearly thinks that Invesco is still onside, telling Reuters that there was an execution risk with Canopius, if 50% of shareholders did not want to sell. Omega said that it continued to believe that it was in the best interests of Omega to put the Haverford offer to its shareholders. The third offer is an all-share merger proposal from Barbican. Canopius is being advised by, among others, Aon Benfield Securities.

UK-based Hampden Underwriting, which offers limited liability access to Lloyd's capacity via an Alternative Investment Market-listing, has booked a loss of £536,000 ($837,000) for the first half, compared with a loss of £58,000 in the same period last year. Premiums written declined by 20% year on year to £4.6m. Net assets declined to £7.3m, from £7.9m at the end of 2010 and £7.7m on June 30 2010. Non-executive chairman Sir Michael Oliver said that, when viewed in the context of the Lloyd's market as a whole in the first half of 2011, the result was disappointing, but not surprising. He warned that, even if there were no further major losses this year, the company will still make a full-year loss. Sir Michael also noted that it would be the 2010 year of account that will be most affected, with a current estimated mid-point loss of 2.82% of capacity. Year of account 2009 has an estimated mid-point profit of 14.25%. Hampden noted that both these percentages outperformed the Lloyd's market as a whole. No dividend has been declared.

The unidentified group that last week signed a confidentiality agreement and commenced negotiations for a possible takeover of New York-based reinsurer Transatlantic Holding includes former General Re chief executive Joseph Brandon, according to press reports, citing people familiar with the matter. Transatlantic had announced the pact and commencement of talks with an unnamed third party earlier last week. Mr Brandon joined GenRe in 1989 and was named CEO in 2001, but was forced out of the company in 2008 under pressure from prosecutors who were examining sham reinsurance deals that enabled AIG to artificially boost reserves by $500m. In addition to Mr Brandon, the latest group eyeing Transatlantic includes Dan Jester, the New York Times reported, citing people briefed on the matter. Mr Jester is a former Goldman Sachs executive who worked at the US Treasury Department at the peak of the financial crisis and oversaw the bailout of AIG. The Brandon-Jester team is being advised by Morgan Stanley, the Times said. In vying for Transatlantic, Mr Brandon goes up against Bermudian re/insurer Validus Holdings, which launched a hostile $2.96bn offer for Transatlantic in July and entered into its own confidentiality pact with the reinsurer last week. His old bosses at Berkshire Hathaway have also put in a couple of indicative offers for Transatlantic, the latest of which was dismissed by the bid target as opportunistic.