(Bloomberg) -- Greenlight Capital ReLtd. posted its fourth-straight quarterly loss, capping thereinsurer’s worst year since its 2007 initial public offering, asChairman David Einhorn’s investments faltered.

The net loss for the three months ended Dec. 31 was $43.1million, or $1.17 a share, and compares with profit of $60.7million, or $1.60 a year earlier, the Cayman Islands-based companysaid in a statement Monday. For the full year, the net loss was$326.4 million.

Hedge fund-reinsurance ventures

Investors who bet on hedge fund-reinsurance ventures have beenburned lately as famous money managers failed to match theirinvesting results from prior years, and underwriting margins werepressured industrywide by increased competition. Greenlight Re hasdropped 38% since the end of 2014 and Dan Loeb’s Third PointReinsurance Ltd. slumped 22%. Validus Holdings Ltd. said last monththat it shut a reinsurance venture backed by John Paulson’s hedgefund firm.

“It was a challenging investment environment for valueinvestors,” Einhorn said of 2015 in the statement. “We continue tobelieve the company is well positioned to grow book value per sharefrom both underwriting and investment activities over the longterm.”

Greenlight Re posted an investing loss of $281.9 million for2015 compared with income of $122.6 million the year earlier.Einhorn’s main Greenlight Capital hedge fund lost 20% in 2015, onlythe second losing year in its almost 20-year history. The moneymanager was hurt by declines in holdings such as SunEdison Inc.,Micron Technology Inc. and Consol Energy Inc. Apple Inc., which hadbeen a top performer in the past, fell in 2015 and extended itsslump this year.

Hard to find profitable contracts

Reinsurers take on risks from primary carriers and can reinvestfunds that are held to back obligations to policyholders. As morepension and hedge funds pushed into reinsurance, seeking bets thatare uncorrelated with bond markets, it became hard to findprofitable contracts. Insurance underwriting generated a profit of$6.8 million in the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of $4.6million a year earlier.

Book value, a measure of assets minus liabilities, was $22.17per share as of Dec. 31, down from $23.29 as of Sept. 30. The stockclosed Monday at $20.14, compared with the IPO price of $19 in2007.

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