Revenues down 28.2%, combined ratio 90.3% at PartnerRe

PartnerRe Ltd., a Pembroke, Bermuda-based reinsurer and commercial insurance carrier with a Toronto branch office, reported Monday it had a combined ratio in of 90.3% in the three months ending June 30, though Q2 revenues dropped 28.3% year over year.

PartnerRe reported gross premiums written of $1.43 billion in Q2 2015, down 2% from $1.46 billion in the same period in 2014. All figures are in United States dollars.

Total revenues were $1.19 billion in the three months ending June 30, down 28.3% from $1.66 billion in Q2 2014.

PartnerRe reported a net loss of $88.5 million in the latest quarter, compared to net income of $274 million in Q2 2014.

The Q2 2015 net loss included net after-tax realized and unrealized losses on investments of $217.2 million.

“We continued to see challenging market conditions during the second quarter, both in terms of persistent competitive reinsurance pressures and difficult financial markets,” stated David Zwiener, PartnerRe’s interim chief executive officer, in a press release. “Nevertheless, we posted strong technical results in the quarter, which when combined with our first quarter performance, resulted in an operating ROE of 8.5%.”

Related: Axis Capital, PartnerRe agree to merge, forming ‘a global top 5 reinsurer’

Zwiener, former chairman of the audit committee of PartnerRe’s board of directors, was appointed interim CEO last January after Costas Miranthis stepped down. Zwiener is still on the board, as a member of the risk and finance committee. His appointment as interim CEO happened when PartnerRe announced its board approved a merger agreement with Axis Capital Holdings Ltd., another Pembroke, Bermuda reinsurer and commercial insurer.

Shareholders of both Axis Capital and PartnerRe are scheduled to vote Aug. 7 on the proposed merger. EXOR S.p.A., a Turin, Italy-based investment firm, is also offering to acquire PartnerRe and is urging PartnerRe shareholders to vote against merging with Axis.

In the non-life segment, PartnerRe’s Q2 loss ratio was 59.8% and its combined ratio was 90.3% in the most recent quarter.

The risks that PartnerRe reinsures include property, casualty, auto, agriculture, aviation/space, catastrophe, credit/surety, engineering, energy, marine, specialty property and specialty casualty.

In addition to Bermuda, its principal offices are in Dublin, Paris, Singapore, Zurich and Greenwich, Conn.

Related: EXOR announces new terms of PartnerRe takeover offer

If PartnerRe were to merge with Axis Capital, the companies would form a “global top 5 reinsurer,” Axis Capital CEO Albert A. Benchimol stated in an earlier press release. PartnerRe shareholders would then own 51.6% of the merged firm and Axis Capital shareholders would own the other 48.4%. PartnerRe shareholders would get 2.18 shares of the combined company for each share of PartnerRe common shares they own, plus a one-time special dividend of $17.50 per share.

Axis Capital shareholders would get one share of the post-merger firm per Axis Capital common share.

EXOR is offering PartnerRe shareholders $137.50 per share. EXOR announced July 7 a revised offer that EXOR suggests would “effectively” give PartnerRe shareholders $143.89 a share if both Axis Capital and PartnerRe shareholders were to vote against a merger.

EXOR, which is controlled by the Agnelli family, owns about 44% of voting rights of Fiat-Chrysler Automobile. It also owner nearly 40% of voting rights of automotive manufacturer CNH Industrial N.V., which makes power trains, buses, commercial vehicles and heavy equipment under the Case and New Holland brands.

EXOR said earlier if PartnerRe shareholders were to accept its acquisition offer, then PartnerRe would have an “opportunity” to grow “as a standalone, leading, pure-play reinsurer, without the pressures of being a public company.”