NU Online News Service, April 13, 2:52 p.m.EDT

As three more Bermuda companies report estimated losses for theMarch 11 Japan earthquake and tsunami, a couple of the companyexecutives commented that a market turn is beginning to occur.

Everest Re Group says it expects losses from the event to beabout $320 million, assuming a $25 billion industry loss.

Aspen Insurance Holdings says its losses will be approximately$160 million, assuming a $30 billion industry loss. The companysaid the loss represents 5 percent of shareholders’ equity as atDec. 31, 2010.

Alterra Capital Holdings says it expects losses of between $60million and $100 million for the event, assuming industry losses ofbetween $20 billion and $35 billion. The loss would representbetween 2.1 percent and 3.4 percent of Alterra’s 2011 openingshareholders’ equity, which the company says is within its normalrisk tolerances for natural catastrophe events in the region.

All loss estimates are pretax and net of reinstatementpremiums.

Aspen CEO Chris O’Kane says first-quarter catastrophes, lowinvestment returns and the change in exposure modeling from RiskManagement Solutions’ (RMS) latest release will combine to improve pricingfor catastrophe-exposed property lines. “Up to 35 percent of our2011 business could consequently be subject to meaningful positiveprice changes,” O’Kane says.

Everest Re Chairman and CEO Joseph V. Taranto echoes thosecomments, stating, “Given the frequency and severity of recentevents, we expect market pricing to firm worldwide forproperty-catastrophe capacity.”