Athene Holding Ltd has settled its long-running Bermuda legal case against former director Imran Siddiqui and Caldera Holdings after Mr Siddiqui acknowledged that he breached duties owed to the insurer by sending and receiving its confidential information.

The Bermudian-based retirement-services company and Mr Siddiqui announced today that they had resolved proceedings begun in the Supreme Court of Bermuda in May 2018. The terms of the settlement are confidential.

In a statement issued as part of the agreement, Mr Siddiqui said that in 2016 and 2017 he had sent and received documents containing confidential Athene information while helping to establish Caldera, a proposed competitor.

He said: “Mr Siddiqui acknowledges that, in behaving in this way, he breached fiduciary duties which he owed to Athene.”

Mr Siddiqui added that he had not believed this at the time but now accepted that he should have known the conduct breached his obligations.

Athene’s original writ named Mr Siddiqui, former Athene executive Stephen Cernich and Bermudian-incorporated Caldera Holdings as defendants. It sought injunctions and damages over allegations that confidential and proprietary information had been used for Caldera’s benefit and to Athene’s detriment.

Mr Siddiqui had been a senior partner at Apollo Global Management, Athene’s former majority owner, and an Athene director. Mr Cernich had worked for Athene and affiliated companies from 2009 until 2016, including as chief actuary and executive vice-president, according to court records.

The dispute arose amid efforts by Caldera to develop a competing insurance business. Court records refer to Caldera’s pursuit of an unnamed insurer, described as “Company A”, in which Athene was also interested. Contemporary reporting identified the target as American Equity Investment Life Holding Co, an Iowa annuity specialist.

A separate Apollo arbitration found that Ming Dang, a former Apollo employee, had aided and abetted Mr Siddiqui’s breach of fiduciary duty by collecting and transmitting confidential Apollo and Athene information and soliciting investors for Caldera. The court record says material from the documents was incorporated into Caldera presentations and models for potential investors.

Athene was not a party to that arbitration. Its Bermuda action continued through a series of jurisdictional and discovery disputes.

Mr Siddiqui is now chief executive officer of Talcott Financial Group.

Today’s announcement says the litigation against Mr Siddiqui and Caldera has been resolved, but it does not refer to Mr Cernich. Athene was asked whether its claim against him remains active.

In today’s statement, the parties said they would not comment further on the matter.