On January 20, 2009, Maiden Holdings, Ltd. (“Maiden Holdings”), a Bermuda based holding company, completed a private placement of trust preferred securities with a face amount of $260MM through Maiden Holdings North America, Ltd. (“Maiden NA”), wholly-owned subsidiary of Maiden Holdings. 

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Read More Maiden Holdings Completes Private Placement of Trust Preferred Securities

In John Foster Emmott (Emmott) v. Michael Wilson & Partners Limited (MWP) [2009] EWHC 1 (Comm) the Court had to consider two applications brought by Emmott pursuant to the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA): (1) for an order requiring MWP to comply with a peremptory order (an order to do something within a particular time period) made by an arbitration tribunal (section 42 AA); (2) for a freezing order (section 44 AA). 

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Read More UK: Court Considers its Supervisory Powers Over Arbitration

In May 2008, CEIOPS issued a questionnaire to member states on the treatment of third country reinsurers and equivalence measures. CEIOPS’ report on the findings to this questionnaire has recently been published. The questionnaire dealt with three elements of the relationship between Member States of the EEA and third countries – the treatment of reinsurance undertakings, equivalence provisions and co-operation agreements. 

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Read More EU: CEIOPS Releases Report of Third Country Reinsurance Equivalence Survey

Tackling poor sales practices in respect of payment protection insurance is a continuing priority for the FSA, as is evident from the its ongoing work and the regulatory action taken against 20 PPI providers in 2008 (see our most recent post here). The FSA has welcomed the decision by Alliance & Leicester, Barclays, The Co-Operative Bank, Lloyds Banking Group (including Lloyds TSB, Halifax and the Bank of Scotland), and RBS/Natwest to stop selling single premium PPI with unsecured personal loans by the end of January 2009. 

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Read More UK: FSA Issues Update on the Sale of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI)

The European Captive Insurance and Reinsurance Owners’ Association (ECIROA) has recently published its comments on CEIOPS’ Issues Paper on Implementing Measures on System of Governance. …
Read More EU: European Captive Insurance and Reinsurance Owners’ Association Comments on System of Governance Issues Paper

Under prior law (Law No. 17418, Article 162), Argentina treated reinsurance as an international undertaking and permitted the ceding company and the reinsurer to choose the appropriate law and jurisdiction in their contract.  Recent Resolution 33.320/2008, however, provides that all new reinsurance contracts involving local insurers, whether treaty or facultative, must stipulate that the contract is subject to Argentinean law and jurisdiction. …
Read More Argentina: New Resolution Requires That Reinsurance Contracts Conform To Argentinean Law and Jurisdiction

In Cain Petroleum Inc. v. Zurich American Insurance Company, A134133 (Or. Ct. App. Dec. 3, 2008), a company that operated gasoline stations sought coverage for a contaminant release under its “Storage Tank System Third Party Liability and Cleanup Policy,” which provided coverage for environmental cleanup costs and third party liability caused by releases from a “scheduled storage tank system” at 17 “scheduled location[s]” after a specific “retroactive date.” 

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Read More Environmental Claims – Limitation to Specified Storage Tanks Upheld

On January 16, 2009, United States District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer, of the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, granted summary judgment in favor of defendants UnitedHealth Group, Inc. and Pacificare Health Systems, Inc. on all claims in the antitrust litigation with institutional pharmacy Omnicare, Inc. 

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Read More Illinois Federal Court Dismisses Antitrust Suit Brought by Institutional Pharmacy Against Insurer

Reuters reports that bond insurer Assured Guaranty Ltd.’s proposed acquisition of Belgian lender Dexia’s U.S. bond insurance unit cleared an antitrust hurdle with the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. …
Read More U.S. Bond Insurer Clears an Antitrust Hurdle in Acquisition of U.S. Bond Insurance Unit of Belgian Lender

This summer, the Delaware Chancery Court arguably expanded the potential liability of independent directors of Delaware corporations by declining to grant summary judgment in favor of non-conflicted, independent directors that had allegedly accepted a buyout offer without performing standard due diligence about the fairness of the deal. 

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Read More Delaware Supreme Court May Uphold Expansion of the Potential Liability of Independent Directors