Top Five Reinsurers - The top five bananas.

(From Reinsurance)

Swiss Re

It's been a busy year for Swiss Re, which has leapfrogged over Munich Re to become the frontrunner for 2006's Top 50 following its acquisition of GE Insurance Solutions (GEIS) in October 2005. The $6.8bn purchase, which was finally completed in June 2006, was financed by a complex financial package that included cash, an at-market rights issue, mandatory convertibles and hybrid debt.

The company was hard hit by the 2005 storm season, losing $1.2bn from Hurricane Katrina and another $750m from the combined impact of hurricanes Rita and Wilma.

In November, the company successfully completed its second securitisation of future profits from a portfolio of US life insurance policies, following on from similar action in January 2005. The November ALPS transaction was a $370m issue and the company claimed that it allowed it to benefit by transferring insurance risk to the capital markets, thereby increasing capital efficiency.

In April Swiss Re successfully transferred $362m of mortality risk to the capital markets. Swiss Re Capital Markets Corporation, acting as sole bookrunner, privately placed the securities with institutional investors.

Swiss Re has entered into a transaction with Vita Capital II to receive up to $362m of payments in the event of severe population mortality. The company experienced strong interest in the life-catastrophe bond, which was oversubscribed. The structure of the Vita Capital II risk coverage is based on a combined mortality index, which applies predetermined weights to the annual general population mortality in the US, UK, Germany, Japan and Canada.