Argo renews ‘first of kind’ sidecar

Argo Group International Holdings has renewed Harambee Re, its reinsurance sidecar, for the 2014 underwriting year.

The fully-collateralised vehicle, following last year’s Harambee Re 2013-1, was launched a year ago. The company claimed at the time it was the first deal of its kind to underwrite both insurance and reinsurance business.

Argo said that the renewal of Harambee Re in the form of Harambee Re 2014-1 shows the firms appetite to continue leveraging capital from sidecar partners and helps Argo to further diversify its sources of reinsurance and retro capital by partnering with capital markets investors. It has not revealed the size of the sidecar.

Harambee Re 2014 will again support two of Argo’s core business units: its Bermuda reinsurance operation Argo Re and its excess and surplus lines arm Colony Specialty.

Mark Watson, the chief executive of Argo Group, said: “We are pleased to continue support of our business growth objectives through this vehicle, which is larger for 2014 than for 2013.

“Harambee Re enables us to increase our underwriting capacity for key business units without adding materially to the Argo Group’s overall exposure to volatility associated with catastrophe losses.”