White Mountains Katrina Losses in $150-$300 Million Range – Pretax

White Mountains Insurance Group, Ltd. announced from its Hamilton, Bermuda headquarters, that it estimates “total net losses resulting from the impact of hurricane Katrina on its insurance and reinsurance operations will be in a range of $150 – $300 million pretax, or $100 – $200 million after tax.”

The bulletin noted that the “estimates are based on industry losses in the range of $20 billion to $35 billion (inclusive of offshore energy losses) and are net of all reinstatement premiums. The impact on profit commissions payable to White Mountains by Olympus Re or on the value of the Company’s investment in Montpelier Re are not included in these estimates.”

CEO Ray Barrette commented: “The devastation created by hurricane Katrina is extraordinary and the financial consequences will take a long time to sort out. Our early estimates of losses are based mostly on exposure information and overall industry estimates of insured damages. Although this is a large loss for the company, we continue to have a strong balance sheet with a significant amount of undeployed capital.”