Max Re gets approval

Max Re Capital has received regulatory approval from the Delaware Department of Insurance to acquire a US-based excess and surplus lines company.

As it announced last December the proposed new Max subsidiary is expected to complement the company’s existing insurance and reinsurance operations based in Bermuda and Dublin. It is to be based in Richmond, Virginia and to be headed by Stephen Vaccaro Jr. as president and chief executive officer. In a statement the company said the new subsidiary will operate across two divisions, brokerage and managing general agency.

Brokerage is to be headed by Jonathan Hahn, and the managing general agency by Bryan Sanders. Each of the divisions will offer property, inland marine, casualty, excess liability and umbrella insurance products. Max Re expects to close the transaction to acquire the excess and surplus lines company shortly.

Scottish Re declares dividend

The board of directors of global life reinsurance specialist Scottish Re Group Limited has declared a cash dividend of $0.4531 per perpetual preferred share outstanding to be paid on April 16, to Perpetual Preferred Share shareholders of record as of the close of business on March 30.

Foster Wheeler wins contract

NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — Foster Wheeler Ltd., an industrial and energy services company, last week won a contract to supply a coal-fuelled generator to the municipal utility in Springfield, Missouri for more than $110 million.The 300-megawatt pulverised-coal generator would burn low-sulphur coal from Wyoming’s Power River Basin when completed in 2010, Foster Wheeler, based in Bermuda, said in a statement.

Springfield plans to add the unit to an existing plant to meet the region’s rising demand for electricity. Springfield’s utility has 106,000 customers in southwest Missouri. 300 megawatts is enough to supply about 240,000 typical homes, according to US Energy Department data.

Harris cuts Nikko Cordial stake

TOKYO (Bloomberg) — Nikko Cordial Corp. shareholder Harris Associates LP, which has rejected two takeover offers from Citigroup Inc., cut its stake in Japan’s third-largest brokerage.Chicago-based Harris trimmed its holding to 6.04 percent from 7.23 percent as of March 20, it said in a statement to the Ministry of Finance yesterday.

Harris sold 14.7 million Nikko shares between March 15 and March 20 in the stock market, the statement said. Citigroup raised its takeover offer for Nikko to 1,700 yen from 1,350 yen on March 13. Harris has rejected both bids as too low.

Harris and Southeastern Asset Management Inc., which owns 6.6 percent of Nikko, said last week the brokerage is worth more than 2,000 yen a share. Bermuda-based Orbis Investment Management Ltd., Toronto-based Mackenzie Financial Corp., also have turned down Citigroup’s initial offer.