QIC Group subsidiary Antares has announced that Antares Syndicate 1274 has been ranked first for investment performance based on three-year average investment return over the period from FY 2019 to 2021 according to JP Morgan Asset Management’s Lloyd’s Peer Analysis.
According to the firm, it achieved an average annual investment return of 3.6% against a Syndicate Peer average of 1.6%.
Salem Al Mannai, CEO of QIC Group, said: “Antares is fully aligned with our parent company QIC Group’s objectives and strategy. Our approach is to favour sustainable and profitable growth and our investment strategy has a significant role to play in achieving these objectives. We are extremely pleased to have been ranked number one in JP Morgan’s Asset Management’s Lloyd’s Peer Analysis. This is a testament to our sustainable growth plan and well-diversified investment strategy.”
Antares was acquired by QIC Group in 2014 and operates internationally though the Lloyd’s platform in London and Singapore. The Lloyd’s managing agency was formed in 2007 and underwrites for Syndicate 1274 as a highly diversified commercial and speciality lines insurer and reinsurer with over 62 underwriters across 17 lines of business.
Founded in 1964, QIC was the first domestic insurance company in the State of Qatar. It is one of the highest-rated insurers in the Gulf region with a rating of A/Stable from Standard & Poor’s and A(Excellent) from AM Best. In terms of profitability and market capitalization, QIC is also the largest insurance company in the MENA region. It is listed on the Qatar Exchange and has a market capitalization of over $4bn.
This continues a run of good news for QIC Group. Earlier this year, its gross premium volume remained stable at QR 3.2bn in the first quarter of 2022. While the economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic was fading in Q1, global markets saw themselves confronted with rising interest rates as central banks sought to tame in an accelerating inflation, the company noted. In addition, markets had to fight the impact from supply chain disruptions and, most importantly, had to digest the shock of the Russian-Ukraine war.
Also reported at the time was that its international operations, which Antares falls under, accounted for nearly three quarters (83%) of the group’s gross written premiums.
The JP Morgan Asset Management Lloyd’s Peer Analysis compares the investment performance of Lloyd’s syndicates with average trust fund assets in excess of £100m over the period 2019-2021. This study is derived from Lloyd’s Statistics 2019-21 and includes investment performance of syndicate trust fund assets and excludes the investment performance associated with Funds at Lloyd’s assets.
