(Bloomberg) -- Swiss Re Ltd., the world’s second-biggest reinsurer, fell the most in six months in Zurich trading after Willis Re said reinsurance prices slid by as much as 25 percent in the
Swiss Re declined as much as 2.9 percent to 79.70 Swiss francs, the biggest loss since July 2 and valuing the company at 29.6 billion francs ($32.9 billion). That was the worst performance on the Bloomberg Europe 500 Insurance Index. The shares decreased 2.8 percent by 12:27 p.m.
A “cocktail of converging factors,” including too much excess reinsurance capital, has fueled a soft buyers’ market with dropping prices, Willis Re, the reinsurance brokerage of Willis Group Holdings Plc, said in an e-mailed report two days ago.
Munich Re, the world’s biggest re-insurer, fell 0.8 percent and Hannover Re lost 0.1 percent. Reinsurers typically renew about two-thirds of their annual property/casualty contracts in January.
The outcome of the renewals round is worse than expected, Daniel Bischof, a Zurich-based analyst with Helvea AG, said in a note to investors.
