Arch Capital Bermuda Sub Fully Funded with

Arch Capital Group’s Arch Reinsurance, formed in response to the WTC disasters (See IJ Website Oct.25), announced that it has closed $763 million in private equity funding arrangements with Warburg Pincus, San Francisco-based Hellman & Friedman and other investors, and is “open for business.”

Arch Re

joins MarshMac’s AXIS Specialty in beginning operations on November 20 (See previous article). Peter Appel, President and CEO of Arch Capital said in the announcement that “The two most important components of our new initiative — the management team and a $1 billion capital base — are now in place. Our team led by Paul Ingrey, is already in Bermuda helping to meet the increased demand for insurance and reinsurance products. Arch is now a key participant in the global insurance marketplace.”

In addition to Warburg, which put up $405 million, and Hellman, which invested $225 million, another $133 million was supplied by “funds affiliated with GE Capital, GE Asset Management, Trident II, L.P. [a fund managed by MarshMac’s MMC Capital, and the founding investor in AXIS], and Farallon Capital Management.

The investors seemed pleased with Arch re’s prospects. Warburg’s Kewong Lee proclaimed that “Arch is open for business. Instead of being distracted by raising money and building infrastructure, the Arch management team can focus on underwriting insurance to grow this company.” Hellman’s Jack Bunce added that, “We are confident the insurance market will value Arch’s key assets — knowledgeable underwriters and lots of clean capital.”|”arch, capital, bermuda, sub, fully, funded, with,