Hannover Re completes sale of Praetorian Financial Group

Hannover Re has completed the sale of its U.S. subsidiary, Praetorian Financial Group, Inc., New York, to the Australian QBE Insurance Group Ltd., Sydney.The deal had been agreed upon in December 2006 and was closed, effective May 31, 2007, upon receipt of the required approval from regulators.QBE’s U.S. subsidiary has acquired all shares of Praetorian. The purchase price was slightly in excess of US$800 million.”Following the successful closing of this transaction we shall concentrate on our core business of reinsurance going forward,” Hannover Re CEO Wilhelm Zeller said in a statement posted on the companys Web site. As we have already indicated, the risk capital that has been freed up is to be profitably invested in both non-life and life/health reinsurance business.This will enable us to more than offset the loss of Praetorian’s profit contribution. We appreciate the combined efforts of Praetorians employees and their trading partners, all of which contributed to a successful transaction close.”Hannover Re said it can now tap into profitable growth opportunities in a number of areas for example, by raising its retention in the still lucrative property catastrophe segment; by writing additional U.S. catastrophe business; and also by cultivating new markets in Central and Eastern Europe and in the Islamic world.