Loeb’s Third Point Re Soars on Investment Returns; Combined Ratio Climbs

August 5, 2016 by Agnel Philip and Sonali Basak

Third Point Reinsurance Ltd., the company that counts on hedge fund manager Dan Loeb to oversee investments, posted its biggest profit since 2013 as his portfolio rebounded.

Second-quarter net income more than tripled to $53.4 million, or 51 cents a share, from $15.7 million, or 15 cents, a year earlier, the Bermuda-based company said Thursday in a statement. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for a profit of 59 cents a share, adjusted for one-time items.

Loeb and Third Point Re Chief Executive Officer John Berger are seeking to turn around a stock slump that’s now in its third year. Loeb’s hedge fund gained 2.2 percent in the first half of 2016, helped by investments in the debt of energy companies. More recently, he profited from bullish bets after the U.K. vote on June 23 to quit the European Union.

“Our investments performed well in the second quarter,” Berger said in the statement. The result from insurance underwriting “was disappointing and reflects adverse development on several contracts.”

Second-quarter investment income jumped to $86.3 million from $38.6 million a year earlier. The insurance underwriting loss widened to $25.6 million, from $9.4 million in the second quarter of 2015.

Underwriting Loss

The combined ratio was 119.2, meaning the company spent about $1.19 in claims and expenses for every premium dollar. That worsened from a ratio of 107.8 a year earlier. Results were hurt by costs on policies for workers’ compensation, Florida homeowners and drivers.

Book value, a measure of assets minus liabilities, rose to $12.88 a share as of June 30 from $12.37 at the end of March.

Third Point Re has slipped 5.9 percent this year to $12.62 as of 4:02 p.m. in New York. That compares with its $12.50 initial public offering price from 2013. Results were released after the close of regular trading.

Some reinsurers with ties to hedge fund managers could become “carcasses on the side of the road” because too many rivals had the same idea, and investment results have been disappointing, S&P Global Ratings said July 6, without specifying which companies are most vulnerable. David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital Re Ltd. posted a loss Monday on faltering investments and costs tied to construction-defect policies.

That was the fifth unprofitable period for Cayman Islands-based Greenlight Re in six quarters. The stock closed Thursday at $19.92, compared with its $19 IPO price in 2007.

Third Point Re’s investments generated a loss in 2015. The last time the company made more money than the second quarter was the final period of 2013, when net income was $80.1 million. Loeb’s hedge fund agreed to lower the fees it’s charging Third Point Re to an annualized 1.5 percent from 2 percent, in addition to as much as 20 percent of the profits, according to a regulatory filing in June.

Updates with underwriting results in fifth, sixth paragraphs.

–With assistance from Simone Foxman.