With its third-quarter net income result doubling over lastyear, and its capital position improving, Swiss Re said it hasreached agreement to repay Berkshire Hathaway, which injected $2.6billion into the Zurich-based reinsurer last year.

Swiss Re reported third-quarter net income of $618 million,compared to $314 million in the prior-year period.

Shareholders' equity increased by $2.4 billion to $29.9 billionin the third quarter of 2010, resulting in a return on equity of9.5 percent for the quarter.

The reinsurer also announced that the convertible perpetualcapital instrument issued to Berkshire Hathaway has been terminatedeffective Nov. 3, 2010.

In an effort to preserve its “double-A” financial strengthratings, Swiss Re secured three billion Swiss francs, $2.6 billionat 2009 current exchange rates, from billionaire investor WarrenBuffett in February 2009, after sustaining an estimated 2008 lossof one billion Swiss francs, translating into $860 million at thetime.

Currently, Swiss Re's ratings are “A-plus from Standard &Poor's, “A1″ from Moody's Investors Service and “A” from A.M.Best.

In a statement, Stefan Lippe, Swiss Re's chief executiveofficer, said, “Today we are pleased to report that our improvedcapital position allowed us to reach an agreement to repayBerkshire Hathaway, with no additional charge for bringing forwardthe repayment date.”

“At the beginning of 2009, we set out a series of firmcommitments aimed at restoring trust in Swiss Re,” Mr. Lippe said.“We have delivered on our promises and successfully turned aroundthe company's performance. We are now firmly focused on the future,implementing our strategy and leveraging our corecapabilities.”

Swiss Re said it will expense the interest charges and a 20percent premium in the fourth quarter, adjusted for foreignexchange.

The charge to earnings is expected to be approximately $1billion before taxes.

After making the termination payment, Swiss Re said it believesit will still hold significant excess capital above the “double-A”level.

Explaining the net income jump, Swiss Re said third-quarteroperating income for the property and casualty segment jumped over20 percent to $1.1 billion, compared to $0.9 billion in the 2009third quarter, while life and health results deteriorated.

Operating income of $1.2 billion for the asset managementsegment, compared to $697 million in third-quarter 2009, alsohelped drive up overall results.

The 2010 third-quarter p&c result benefited frombelow-average natural catastrophe activity and disciplinedunderwriting, Swiss Re said, noting that the p&c combined ratioimproved to 76.4 from 84.5 in last year's third quarter.

Through the first nine months of 2010 the combined ratio was95.6.

Looking ahead, and noting the low interest rate environment,Swiss Re said it will continue to focus on writing profitablebusiness while opening up new sources of income through a capacityfor innovation, and it will remain committed to active cyclemanagement–deploying capital to those lines of business where itexpects to achieve an appropriate return.