SCOR Increases Stake in IRP; Extends Sell Date for CRP

France’s –SCOR Group announced that it has purchased an additional 6.67 percent stake in IRP Holdings Ltd., and has extended the deadline for the sale of Commercial Risk Partners (CRP) from June 30 to July 31, as talks continue with the prospective buyer.

SCOR’s announcement indicated that it had acquired the additional interest in IRP from “another shareholder of that company,” but did not give the name. The purchase raises SCOR’s stake in IRP, which includes Irish Reinsurance Partners, a Dublin-based company formed at the end of 2001 to reinsure part of SCOR’s non-life business, from 46.7 percent to 53.37 percent.

“The subsidiary’s results will be 53.37% consolidated by SCOR with effect from the second half of 2003,” and are “expected to enhance SCOR Group earnings,” said the announcement.

SCOR originally executed a letter of intent concerning the sale of Commercial Risks Partners, a Bermuda-based operation that underwrites alternative risk transfer reinsurance, on March 28, 2003. The letter granted the potential buyer an exclusive right of preemption until June 30, 2003. “By common agreement, the deadline has been extended until July 31, 2003,” said the bulletin.