Soros Pulls Backing From Bermuda’s Q Re
Bermuda reinsurer Q Re is set to close as American billionaire backer George Soros pulls back from the sector, industry journal “Trading Risk” reports this week.
A Q Re spokesman told Trading Risk that Mr. Soros’ managers felt current market conditions in the catastrophe reinsurance space did not meet their expectations for returns.
The spokesman said Soros was “intrigued” by the insurance sector but was not certain it was the right timing to be committing capital to the market.
The decision to close was made on Wednesday [Nov.2].
Q Re was founded in 2010 by former RenaissanceRe executives, Michael Cash and the late Bill Riker, with the backing of Mr. Soros through his hedge fund manager Soros Funds Management.
“Trading Risk” said the company’s underwriter Bryan Bumsted and head of modelling Peter Skerlj were said to be negotiating their departures from Q Re.
George Soros) is a Hungarian-American business magnate and philanthropist.
He is the chairman of the Soros Fund Management. Mr. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes. He is known as “the Man Who Broke the Bank of England” because of his $1 billion in investment profits during the 1992 Black Wednesday UK currency crisis.
Between 1979 and 2011, Mr. Soros gave away over $8 billion to human rights, public health, and education causes. He played a significant role in the peaceful transition from communism to capitalism in Hungary and provided Europe’s largest-ever higher education endowment to Central European University in Budapest.
Mr. Soros is also the chairman of the Open Society Institute and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations.
