Bloomberg – Lloyd’s of London insurers pulled as much as half a billion pounds ($825 million) from hedge funds and private equity after investment returns at the world’s oldest insurance market fell by more than half.

Catlin Group Ltd.,Brit Insurance Holdings Plc, Chaucer Holdings Plc and Beazley Plc withdrew or have redemption requests on as much as 434 million pounds of investments including in hedge funds, according to regulatory filings.

“The premise we and the rest of the world looked at in terms of hedge funds was that they would provide an uncorrelated return to things like the equity markets,” Catlin’s Chief Operating Officer Paul Jardine said in a telephone interview. “That didn’t happen.”

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Tags: insurance market, investment-returns, investments, Private Equity, redemption-requests

Guardian.co.uk – Lloyd’s of London, the specialist insurance market, has offered to buy back up to 100 million pounds ($145 million) worth of bonds at a hefty discount.

Tags: 100-million, bonds, capital position, capital securities, guardian, hefty discount, insurance, insurance market, lloyd, london, specialist insurance