Reinsurance News

Covea

Improved capital position prompts Covea ratings upgrade

22nd January 2020

S&P Global Ratings has upgraded its ratings for France-based insurer Covea Group, citing further improvements in the company’s capital adequacy and its leading competitive position within the regional P&C market. The rating agency raised Covea’s long-term insurer financial strength and issuer credit ratings from ‘A+’ to ‘AA-‘ and kept the group’s ... Read the full article

Willis Re Securities completes €120m cat bond for Covéa

19th November 2019

Willis Re Securities, a division of re/insurance broker Willis Towers Watson, has announced its role in structuring and placing Hexagon II Reinsurance DAC. This transaction provides French insurance group Covéa with a single €120 million tranche of fully collateralised protection against windstorm and other weather-related events for a four-year period. The structure ... Read the full article

Activist investor CIAM condemns “destructive” governance at SCOR

27th September 2019

Activist investor CIAM has addressed a new letter to the management at SCOR, accusing it of ignoring shareholder interests by pursuing “destructive” governance strategies in its negotiations with Covéa last year. Catherine Berjal, CEO of CIAM, renewed her public condemnation of Denis Kessler’s conduct today in an appeal to Augustin de ... Read the full article

French regulator advises SCOR and Covéa to reconcile

29th May 2019

The French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR) has advised that re/insurers SCOR and Covéa end their conflict in order to avoid financial instability, according to reports from Reuters. The two companies have been involved in a protracted dispute since SCOR rejected an €8.2 billion takeover bid from Covéa in ... Read the full article

Covéa looking to diversify into reinsurance through M&A, reports Reuters

23rd April 2019

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of French insurance group Covéa, Thierry Derez, has said that the firm is eager to diversify into the reinsurance industry through acquisitions, reports Reuters. In January 2019, Covéa decided to abandon plans to pursue an acquisition of reinsurer SCOR after the firm rejected an offer ... Read the full article

SCOR sues Barclays, demands access to Covéa acquisition docs

25th February 2019

French reinsurer SCOR has gone through with it’s plans to prosecute Barclays, who acted as the financial advisor and financing bank to Covéa during its failed attempt to acquire SCOR in 2018, according to reports from the Financial Times. SCOR previously announced that it intended to sue Covéa and its ... Read the full article

SCOR never had discussions with PartnerRe, affirms CEO Kessler

12th February 2019

Denis Kessler, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of French reinsurer SCOR, has reaffirmed that the company has never had discussions with Bermudian reinsurer PartnerRe regarding a potential merger scenario. Rumours about a possible combination between the two companies have circulated since SCOR rejected an €8.2 billion takeover bid from Covéa last year ... Read the full article

SCOR’s Kessler defends legal actions against Covéa

5th February 2019

Denis Kessler, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of French reinsurer SCOR, has defended the company’s decision to initiate criminal actions against Covéa and its CEO, Thierry Derez, following the rejection of an €8.2 billion takeover bid last year. The SCOR boss addressed criticism from investors such as Catherine Berjal, CEO of ... Read the full article

Investors question SCOR’s “aggressive” legal dispute with Covéa

4th February 2019

French reinsurer SCOR has faced criticism from activist investors just days after the company announced it intends to initiate criminal actions against Covéa and its CEO, Thierry Derez, following the rejection of an €8.2 billion takeover bid last year. Catherine Berjal, CEO of investment management firm CIAM, penned a letter ... Read the full article

Covéa board firmly rejects “groundless” SCOR accusations

31st January 2019

After a statement from Covéa this week put an official end to its hopes of successfully navigating a takeover of SCOR, prompting the latter to pursue legal action, the company’s board of directors have firmly rejected what they describe as groundless acquisitions and reaffirmed its unanimous support for ... Read the full article

SCOR seeks prosecution of Covéa & Thierry Derez

29th January 2019

French reinsurance giant SCOR has announced that it plans to initiate criminal actions against Covéa and its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Thierry Derez following the rejection of an €8.2 billion takeover bid in August 2018. The acquisition offer from Covéa, which is currently SCOR’s largest shareholder, was labelled as “hostile ... Read the full article

Covéa scraps plans to pursue SCOR deal

29th January 2019

French insurance group Covéa has announced that it has abandoned its plans to pursue an acquisition deal targeting reinsurance giant SCOR. “Covéa takes note of SCOR’s refusal to enter into any discussions in relation to Covéa’s proposed friendly transaction offer addressed on 24 August 2018,” the company said in a statement. “The ... Read the full article

Covéa CEO resigns from SCOR board following takeover attempt

14th November 2018

Thierry Derez, the Chief Executive Officer of French insurer Covéa, has resigned from his position on SCOR’s board following the rejection of an €8.2 billion (US $9.6 billion) takeover attempt in September. SCOR had recently released a statement reaffirming its rejection of Covéa’s “hostile and unfriendly” acquisition offer and called ... Read the full article