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RenaissanceRe

rnr · NYSE Financial Services
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Ticker rnr
Exchange NYSE
Sector Financial Services
Industry Insurance - Specialty
Employees 201-500
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FY2006 Annual Report · RenaissanceRe
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RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. 2006 Annual Report

letter tO  
sHareHOlDers

Some might be struck by the contrast 
of RenaissanceRe’s strong performance 
in 2006 with our performance during 
the multi-disaster years of 2004 and 
2005, which also included a period of 
considerable corporate turmoil. However, 
as we pointed out in last year’s letter, 
RenaissanceRe is a resilient company 
with a business model that we believe will 
produce above average returns over time. 

The fact that 2006 was a below average year for earthquakes 
and land falling hurricanes was a major contributor to our 
stellar results. However, it should be noted that, even if the 
year’s catastrophe losses had been average, we believe the 
portfolio of business we constructed would still have resulted 
in attractive returns. Much of the value we generated for our 
shareholders can be tied to the ability of our team to remain 
focused on our core strategy, unchanged since our founding: 
to maintain disciplined risk taking and opportunistic entry 
into markets, supported by sophisticated risk management 
technology, prudent capital management and exceptional  
client service.  

some basic truths

Last year, many in the financial community wondered whether 
we were mistaken to remain so committed to the property 
catastrophe business. Since then, we witnessed a marked 
reversal in sentiment as capital entered the market from all 
corners to take advantage of prevailing market conditions.  
This is a reality in our cyclical business: the flow of capital 
drives the relative attractiveness of our business, which is  
why disciplined underwriting and superior risk analytics  
are so critical to our success.

If anything, the year’s results underscored a few basic truths. 

First, our main business, catastrophe reinsurance, is extremely 
volatile. In any year, we face the possibility of exceptional profit 
or sizable losses. We are mindful that the next major disaster 
may be just around the corner, and so we must never get 
carried away by temporary good fortune. And yet, over the long 
haul, we believe that, for disciplined companies such as ours, 
the good times will outweigh the bad. In years when ill winds do 
not blow and the ground does not shake, we expect to generate 
results that will more than tide us over during bad times and 
will provide our shareholders with attractive long term returns. 

We also believe that exceptional returns can be achieved by 
aggressively pursuing opportunities when markets are most 
dislocated. Still, good returns are not a given, and one must 
stay disciplined in evaluating and assuming risks and properly 
structuring the Company’s portfolio. 

Thirdly, this year showed once again that even less experienced 
participants in our industry can achieve strong results in a year 
with a low level of catastrophes or loss emergence. But such 
banner years enable industry leaders, like RenaissanceRe, to 
perform well above the average and emerge in an even stronger 
position for the future. 

Financial Performance and industry leadership

For the year, our operating income rose to a record $796 
million, or $11.05 per fully diluted share. Return on equity  
was almost 38%, and tangible book value per share increased 
over 40%. Our primary focus is on the longer term, and we are 
pleased that over the past five years, despite the losses of 2004 
and 2005, we generated an annualized compounded growth  
in tangible book value per share plus accumulated dividends  
of more than 17%. 

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Letter to Shareholders

FROM LeFT:

neill a. currie
Chief executive Officer

W. James Macginnitie
Chairman of the Board

As a result, in late 2005 and early 2006, we raised over $380 
million for DaVinciRe, our joint venture catastrophe reinsurer, 
from new and existing investors, and were instrumental in the 
creation of two new joint ventures, Tim Re and Starbound Re, 
specifically for the Florida hurricane market. We raised an 
additional $300 million in late 2006 through a public offering 
of perpetual preference shares, our largest public offering ever, 
to opportunistically refinance two outstanding preferred issues, 
and thereby lowered our cost of capital.  

These activities demonstrated RenaissanceRe’s growing skill 
in accessing capital markets through a variety of public and 
private avenues, and in deploying capital in diverse structures 
appropriate to our partners’ and investors’ appetite for risk.  
One of our objectives is to position RenaissanceRe as a 
destination of first choice for investors seeking opportunities  
in our market segments. 

enhancing Our leadership through technology

Our market leadership, once again, was driven by our 
substantial investment in our proprietary, computer based 
ReMS© risk modeling technology. During the past year, 
we continued to invest heavily in this technology and the 
intellectual capital behind it, increasing the arsenal of predictive 
capabilities and risk analysis tools available to our underwriters. 
Recent enhancements include automated portfolio runs on a 
nightly basis. This enables us to examine risk metrics, analyze 
capital and perform rating agency tests every day. Combined 
with our existing capabilities for assessing the marginal impact 
of any potential assumed, ceded or capital transaction in real 
time, we believe that our tools continue to lead the industry.

Key to our success in 2006 was the market leadership we 
displayed from the very outset of the year, starting with the 
January cat renewal season. Our leadership was supported  
by the confidence we have in our proprietary risk models.  
In the aftermath of Katrina, Rita and Wilma, many of our 
competitors waited for revamped risk models from commercial 
vendors, and even then were unsure of how to proceed. 

Following the previous years’ hurricane activity, by late 2005  
we had completed a comprehensive review of our proprietary 
North Atlantic hurricane models. We concluded that we had 
entered a period of higher hurricane frequency and severity, 
and consequently adjusted the assumptions in our models.  
We reflected these changes in our underwriting assumptions 
and went out into the market with the courage of our convictions, 
prepared to write coverage at terms we considered appropriate. 
As a result, we constructed quite an attractive book of 
catastrophe business, both at the January and the June  
renewal seasons. The quality of this book not only drove  
our 2006 results, but laid the groundwork for additional  
benefits that we expect to appear in the years to come.

By stepping up so readily, we continued to demonstrate to  
our clients, and to their brokers, that we will provide them  
with the products they need, when they need them, even  
when others shy away – as long as we are compensated  
fairly for the risks we assume.  

Distinguishing Our company through raising capital

Similarly, we distinguished ourselves in the way that we raised 
new capital to take advantage of the attractive market and 
provide clients with the capacity they so urgently required. 
Although ample capital was seemingly available to the 
marketplace – through hedge funds, private equity and other 
third parties eager to invest in established or newly formed 
reinsurers – the lack of reinsurers willing to take on wind 
exposure in the southeastern United States presented brokers 
and clients with significant capacity shortfalls.  

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RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. 2006 Annual Report

OPerating return On aVerage cOMMOn equity*  
(%)

40

30

20

10

0

(10)

(20)

4

  1997 

1998 

1999 

2000 

2001 

2002 

2003 

2004 

2005 

2006

Other achievements – individual risk  
and specialty reinsurance

Our Individual Risk business experienced another year of 
growth. We achieved this despite our decision to redeploy 
capacity, previously earmarked for Florida homeowners’ 
insurance through quota share reinsurance, into our property 
catastrophe reinsurance book, where we determined the risk 
adjusted returns to be superior.

This coordinated analysis across our entire book, and our 
willingness to shrink elements of our business when we 
estimate returns to be inadequate or appear superior in other 
lines of business, is a basic tenet at RenaissanceRe. It also 
explains why we wrote considerably less specialty reinsurance 
business in 2006, as we found some of our specialty 
areas, such as catastrophe related workers’ compensation 
reinsurance, to provide returns below our desired level.  
Writing coverage for risks for which we believe we are not being 
paid, or paid sufficiently, is something we resolutely avoid. 

strengthening Our Organization 

Our year’s excellent performance, and our strong position at 
year end, would have been impossible without our exceptional 
people and the strong corporate culture we have nurtured at 
RenaissanceRe.  

During the year, we continued to grow, and we now have 
approximately 220 people throughout our organization. We 
added seasoned personnel across the Company, including Fred 
Donner, our new Chief Financial Officer.  We also welcomed 
Henry Klehm III to our Board of Directors, who brings with him 
valuable experience as Global Head of Compliance of Deutsche 
Bank, AG. 

We expanded our leadership development initiative begun  
in 2005 to train our senior personnel, and this year created  
a mentoring program for nurturing people across the Company 
at all levels. We are pleased that we continue to attract and 
retain people of the highest caliber, who are excited to be part 
of RenaissanceRe and appreciate being at one of the premier 
companies in our field. 

In February 2007, we announced a final settlement with the 
Securities and exchange Commission. In addition, we also 
announced an agreement, subject to court approval, to settle 
the consolidated shareholder class action litigation against the 
Company. We are pleased to have put these matters behind us. 
All of us at RenaissanceRe are committed to operate with the 
utmost integrity at every level. 

We believe that in a short period of time our Company has 
reached a new level of maturity as an organization. In part,  
this has been due to the self-reflection we undertook as a group 
during the past two years, and the changes implemented as  
a result. While RenaissanceRe still maintains its agility and its 
enthusiasm to innovate, the Company has conclusively passed 
beyond its early startup years to become a well functioning, 
diversified, multi-geographic entity that has survived turmoil  
and gone on to new strengths and accomplishments.  

looking Forward

As the past year brought challenges that we met with 
confidence and skill, so too will the coming year bring its own 
share of new developments. Although market conditions in our 
core catastrophe business remain attractive, we do not expect 
the same richness of opportunity we encountered in 2006.  

Letter to Shareholders

“   The significant leadership position we have built,  
founded on our expertise and consistency, is more  
important than ever as a differentiator and driver  
of performance.” 

Despite these and other challenges, we approach the future 
in great shape, both financially and organizationally. We keep 
getting better at what we do. Our task – the very essence of our 
Company – is to be able to handle whatever comes our way.  
We look forward to the challenge. 

Sincerely,

Neill A. Currie 
Chief executive Officer

W. James MacGinnitie 
Chairman of the Board

Competition will be fierce, and not just from other insurers and 
reinsurers. We are increasingly competing with hedge funds, 
investment banks and other capital providers seeking to profit 
through alternative investments such as catastrophe bonds and 
index related instruments. The significant leadership position  
we have built, founded on our expertise and consistency,  
is more important than ever as a differentiator and driver  
of performance.

As always, we face the challenge of optimally managing our 
capital. With the high returns of 2006, and our strong balance 
sheet, we will stay disciplined, yet open to all considerations 
concerning the best use of our resources. 

We face uncertainties in the regulatory arena, too. There is 
debate in U.S. legislative circles about the tax treatments of 
foreign operations, and, in the aftermath of Katrina, the idea  
of a U.S. national catastrophe fund is also under consideration. 
These would impact us and we would need to adjust. Already, 
we have seen legislative changes in Florida, one of our key 
markets, that will increase the state funded Florida Hurricane 
Catastrophe Fund and reduce the role of open market business. 
Still, we remain well positioned to provide a meaningful share 
of the remaining capacity that will be sought from the private 
sector. Furthermore, we expect this situation to remain fluid  
for many years before it is resolved.  

Bermuda, too, faces challenges as its infrastructure copes with 
the inflow of new companies, capital and people all coming to 
work here. RenaissanceRe has been an active and generous 
local corporate citizen and will continue to support efforts to 
improve the community at large. 

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