E&S/Specialty

The lackluster economy, loss of contingent commissions and business issues at certain offices conspired to reduce insurance broker Brown & Brown Inc.’s net income by 10 percent for the 2011 second quarter of this year.

Validus Holdings’ bid for Transatlantic Holdings, if successful, will be credit-positive for Validus due to strategic benefits, but credit-negative for Transatlantic due to higher catastrophe leverage, according to Moody’s.

Allied World Assurance Co. Holdings and Validus Holdings continue the back-and-forth fight to acquire Transatlantic Holdings.

An article in the New York Post slamming a New York broker for partnering with Lloyd’s of London and selling “improper policies” without paying premium taxes is correct in some instances and misses the mark in others, according to industry experts.

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited says it expects between $90 million and $105 million in second-quarter losses, net of reinsurance, tax and reinstatement premiums, from a June aftershock in Christchurch, New Zealand and from April and May U.S. storms.

WRM America Holdings LLC, a specialty-lines property and casualty insurance and risk-management holding company, has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Fidelity National Financial’s flood and excess flood business—Fidelity National Indemnity Insurance Co. (FNII)—for $210 million.