(BRK.A), (BRK.B)
Berkshire Hathaway’s long term love affair with the reinsurance continues to wane. Over the past few years, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger and Ajit Jain all have spoken about the changes in profitability in the reinsurance market.
The latest proof comes as Berkshire Hathaway has dropped to sixth in A.M. Best’s annual special report on the global reinsurance industry.
“The reinsurance business not as good as it once was and is unlikely to get better,” Charlie Munger said at the 2015 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. “Money has come in, not because they want to be in reinsurance, but because it’s an uncorrelated asset class. We’re in it for the long haul.”
“What we’ve seen from Berkshire Hathaway is that they recognize that reinsurance opportunities are not where they need to be from a pricing perspective,” A.M. Best Vice President Robert DeRose said. “They have pulled capacity back from that particular aspect of the market and they are building out insurance strategies.”
DeRose stated that Berkshire Hathaway is specifically building out that capacity through Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance Co. Also, Berkshire Hathaway, through its General Reinsurance Corp. franchise, has entered into a five-year agreement under which Transatlantic Reinsurance Co. will serve as its exclusive underwriter for U.S. and Canadian property/casualty treaty reinsurance business.
© 2016 David Mazor
Disclosure: David Mazor is a freelance writer focusing on Berkshire Hathaway. The author is long in Berkshire Hathaway, and this article is not a recommendation on whether to buy or sell the stock. The information contained in this article should not be construed as personalized or individualized investment advice. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.