Arch Capital Group Ltd. (Arch Capital), a Bermuda public limited liability company, writes insurance and reinsurance on a worldwide basis through operations in Bermuda, the United States, Europe and Canada, with a focus on specialty lines.
We seek to increase shareholder value through three main strategic principles: selectively pursue diverse specialty markets where we can apply our knowledge and expertise; maintain flexibility and responsiveness to allow us to take advantage of market opportunities when they arise; and maintain a disciplined underwriting approach to enable us to select risks and price them appropriately in all phases of the insurance cycle.
Our businesses are divided into two platforms, insurance and reinsurance.
Insurance
Our U.S. insurance operations are headquartered in New York City. The Canadian branch of Arch Insurance Company is based in Toronto. Our European insurance operations are conducted through Arch Insurance Company (Europe) Limited in London. Arch Insurance (Bermuda) is a division of Arch Reinsurance Ltd., which is based in Bermuda.
For more information about our insurance subsidiaries and their products, we invite you to visit their websites:
Reinsurance
Our subsidiaries underwrite reinsurance through Arch Reinsurance Ltd. in Bermuda, and Arch Reinsurance Company in Morristown, New Jersey. Our property facultative reinsurance operations are primarily conducted through Arch Reinsurance Company, with certain executive functions conducted through Arch Re Facultative Underwriters Inc. in Farmington, Connecticut. Arch Reinsurance Europe Underwriting Limited, our European reinsurance company, also operates a branch office in Zurich, Switzerland, and Arch Re Accident & Health ApS is an underwriting agency which conducts accident and health underwriting as a branch office of Arch Reinsurance Europe Underwriting Limited in Copenhagen, Denmark.
For more information about our reinsurance subsidiaries and their products, we invite you to visit their websites:
In 2008, Arch Capital announced a $400 million joint venture with Gulf Investment Corporation to form a new specialist reinsurer in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Gulf Reinsurance Ltd. will initially target high-value oil and gas, industrial, utility and transportation assets primarily in the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The company will write a broad range of property and casualty lines of reinsurance, including aviation, energy, commercial transportation, marine, engineered risks and property, on both a treaty and facultative basis
Our current operations were launched from an underwriting initiative in October 2001 to meet demand in the global insurance and reinsurance markets. From October 2001 through May 2006, Arch Capital raised over $1.8 billion through an equity capital infusion and public offerings of our common shares, series A non-cumulative preferred shares, series B non-cumulative preferred shares and senior notes. The equity capital and net proceeds of the offerings were used to support the underwriting activities of our insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries. In addition, we have attracted a proven management team with extensive industry experience.
Our underwriting platform, our experienced management team and our capital base that is unencumbered by significant pre-2002 risks have enabled us to establish a strong presence in the insurance and reinsurance markets. For 2008, our seventh full year of operation, we wrote $2.8 billion of net premiums, reported net income available to common shareholders of $265.1 million and earned an annualized return on average common equity of 15.8%. Diluted book value per share was $51.36 at December 31, 2008 compared to $55.12 at December 31, 2007.