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Icahn looks to establish fair AmTrust price; Manulife raising $2B for fund

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Icahn looks to establish fair AmTrust price; Manulife raising $2B for fund

The feud between AmTrust Financial Services Inc. and Carl Icahn continued as the activist investor filed a notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission, asserting appraisal rights for the 9.4% stake he owns in the insurer, The Insurance Insider reported. The filing showed that he may ask a judge in Delaware to determine the fair value of the insurer's common stock.

Canadian insurer Manulife Financial Corp. is looking to raise as much as $2 billion for John Hancock Infrastructure Fund LP, which will be managed by its John Hancock U.S. division, according to The Wall Street Journal. French private equity firm Ardian has already committed about $1 billion.

Turning to reinsurance, as of May 31, catastrophe bond and insurance-linked securities issuance reached about $8.2 billion, outpacing the year-ago period by about $100 million, Artemis reported. The outstanding catastrophe bond and ILS market transaction now stands at a record $34.7 billion.

Prices for Florida property and catastrophe reinsurance cover increased by a "negligible" 1.2% at the June 1 renewal despite industry expectations of higher increases following an active and destructive hurricane season in 2017, according to reinsurance broker JLT Re's price index.

A windstorm that hit several regions of Ontario and parts of Quebec on May 4 is expected to result in insured losses of C$410 million, with C$380 million coming from Ontario alone, according to Insurance Bureau of Canada.

In Asia, South Korean regulators plan to introduce competition into the country's reinsurance market by allowing domestic newcomers to compete with Korean Reinsurance Co. The Financial Services Commission and Financial Supervisory Service said June 4 that they will "actively" license new reinsurers that meet capital and reinsurance business adequacy requirements.

The Insurance Insider reported that the founding CEO of Asia Capital Re, John Tan, had to cancel his plans of establishing Hong Kong-based reinsurer due to regulatory and financial roadblocks.

Hires and fires: Aon PLC appointed Andrew Marcell CEO of reinsurance solutions, effective June 1. He joined the company in 2015 as head of strategy for Aon Benfield.

Swiss Re AG appointed Monica Ningen as president and CEO of Swiss Re Canada and English Caribbean, effective July 1. She most recently was head of property underwriting in the U.S. and Canada. Ningen succeeds Veronica Scotti, who has been named chairperson of global partnerships.

Infinity Property & Casualty Corp. shareholders signed off on a proposed merger agreement that will see Kemper Corp. acquire the company in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at about $1.4 billion.

W. R. Berkley Corp. is expected to withdraw from the U.S. aviation market over the next few months, according to a separate Insider report.

In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill mandating residents in the state to obtain health insurance or face a fine, The Associated Press reported.

And, Nigerian Reinsurance Corp. is preparing to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange this year, Reuters reported, citing sources. The government will reportedly sell part of its stake in an IPO that is slated for November.

Featured news

Merck's Keytruda extends lives of lung cancer patients; FDA drug review revamp: Keytruda, as a single therapy, improved the life expectancy of certain lung cancer patients in a late-stage trial; and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to unveil its plans to overhaul the drug reviewing process.

Financial news in other parts of the world

Asia-Pacific: 2 Australian insurers scrap merger plans; Westpac may shut funds management unit

Europe: UniCredit eyes merger with SocGen; CYBG ups Virgin Money offer; Spain has new PM

Middle East & Africa: Israel eases process for prospective new banks; Nigeria Re said to eye 2018 IPO

The day ahead

Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.

In Asia, the Hang Seng was up 1.66% to 30,997.98. The Nikkei 225 rose 1.37% to 22,475.90. In Europe, as of midday, the FTSE 100 was up 0.31% to 7,701.77, and the Euronext 100 climbed 1.02% to 1,059.77.

On the macro front

The factory orders report is due out today.

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