Aspen Completes $100 Million California Earthquake Catastrophe Financing Under $1 Billion Shelf Program and Announces $100 Million ILW Wind Reinsurance.HAMILTON, Bermuda -- Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited ("Aspen") (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :AHL AHL American Hockey League AHL Action Half-Life (Half-Life modification) AHL Acyl Homoserine Lactone AHL Aramark Harrison Lodging AHL Acylated Homoserine Lactone AHL Association for the History of Language AHL Architects Hawaii Ltd ) today announced two separate collateralized reinsurance The contract made between an insurance company and a third party to protect the insurance company from losses. The contract provides for the third party to pay for the loss sustained by the insurance company when the company makes a payment on the original contract. contracts to protect its balance sheet against severe California Earthquake and US wind events. Aspen has entered into a multi-year property catastrophe reinsurance agreement with Ajax Re Limited ("Ajax Re"), a Cayman Islands Cayman Islands (kā`mən), British dependency (2005 est. pop. 44,300), 100 sq mi (259 sq km), comprising three islands in the West Indies. domiciled dom·i·cile n. 1. A residence; a home. 2. One's legal residence. v. dom·i·ciled, dom·i·cil·ing, dom·i·ciles v.tr. 1. reinsurer re·in·sure tr.v. re·in·sured, re·in·sur·ing, re·in·sures To insure again, especially by transferring all or part of the risk in a contract to a new contract with another insurance company. , to provide up to $100 million of reinsurance coverage for Aspen's insurance subsidiaries in the event of one or more California earthquakes. The reinsurance agreement is fully collateralized by proceeds received by Ajax Re from the issuance of catastrophe bonds, and its reinsurance limit is proportionally available based on industry insured losses between $23.1 billion and $25.9 billion in the covered area, as reported by Property Claim Services ("PCS (1) (Personal Communications Services) Refers to wireless services that emerged after the U.S. government auctioned commercial licenses in 1994 and 1995. This radio spectrum in the 1. "). The full $100 million available is exhausted when the reported industry insured losses by PCS reach $25.9 billion. This transaction coincides with the expiration of the Company's existing catastrophe swap agreement and provides Aspen with coverage effective from August 18, 2007 through May 1, 2009. Ajax Re is a special purpose Cayman Islands exempted company licensed as a restricted Class B insurer in the Cayman Islands and formed solely for the purpose of entering into certain reinsurance agreements and other risk transfer agreements with subsidiaries of Aspen to provide up to $1 billion of reinsurance protection covering various perils. The protection provided by Ajax Re will be funded through the issuance of one or more distinct series of notes (the "Notes") to qualified institutional buyers In law, a Qualified Institutional Buyer is a purchaser of securities that is financially sophisticated and is legally recognized by security market regulators to need less protection from sellers than most members of the public. in permitted jurisdictions as part of Ajax Re's $1 billion principal at-risk variable rate note program. In a separate transaction, Aspen intends, subject to completion of contractual arrangements, to enter into a $100 million Industry Loss Warranty ("ILW ILW Intermediate Level Waste ILW Industry Loss Warranty ILW Immigration Lawyers on the Web ILW Institute for Land Warfare ILW International Low Water ILW Initial Weight ILW International Linz Weekend ILW Internet Learning Workshop ") Reinsurance Contract to provide protection against United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. catastrophic wind events. The ILW is structured in three layers, with trigger points trigger points see local acupuncture points. ranging from $30 billion to $50 billion in industry losses as reported by PCS. Commenting on the financings, Chris O'Kane, Aspen's Chief Executive Officer said: "Aspen continues to manage catastrophe risk exposures by using a combination of capital markets and traditional reinsurance. These transactions enable us to protect our balance sheet from exposure to significant specific perils and support our ratings." This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the Notes in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. The Notes have not been, and will not be, registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration under the Securities Act or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements thereunder. About Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited was established in June 2002. Aspen is a Bermudian holding company that provides property and casualty reinsurance in the global market, property and liability insurance principally in the United Kingdom and the United States and specialty insurance and reinsurance consisting mainly of marine and energy and aviation worldwide. Aspen's operations are conducted through its wholly-owned subsidiaries located in London, Bermuda and the United States: Aspen Insurance UK Limited, Aspen Insurance Limited and Aspen Specialty Insurance Company. Aspen has four operating segments: property reinsurance, casualty reinsurance, specialty insurance and reinsurance and property and casualty insurance. For more information about Aspen, please visit the Company's website at www.aspen.bm. Application of the Safe Harbor Safe Harbor 1. A legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability as long as good faith is demonstrated. 2. A form of shark repellent implemented by a target company acquiring a business that is so poorly regulated that the target itself is less attractive. of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) implemented several significant substantive changes affecting certain cases brought under the federal securities laws, including changes related to pleading, discovery, liability, class representation and awards fees and of 1995 This press release contains written, and Aspen's officers may make related oral, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws regarding Aspen's initial outlook for certain operating results for 2007, the possible repurchase of Aspen's ordinary shares and the financing of any such repurchases. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include all statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts, and can be identified by the use of words such as "expect," "intend," "plan," "believe," "project," "anticipate," "seek," "will," "estimate," "may," "continue," and similar expressions of a future or forward-looking nature. All forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions, estimates and data concerning future results and events and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside Aspen's control that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. For a detailed description of uncertainties and other factors that could impact the forward-looking statements in this release, please see the "Risk Factors" section in Aspen's Annual Report on Form 10-K Form 10-K A report required by the SEC from exchange-listed companies that provides for annual disclosure of certain financial information. Form 10-K See 10-K. for the year ended December 31, 2006, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on February 22, 2007. |
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