Since most of the sidecars and other special purpose vehicles formed since the end of 2004 are privately owned, and most are not rated, information can be hard to come by.

Nevertheless, has compiled by far the most comprehensive list to date of such vehicles with Bermudian connections. The following is a run-down on what is known about these companies.

1. has issued $405 million of variable-rate notes. The company provides coverage to Oil Casualty Insurance, Ltd. (OCIL), a Bermuda-based insurer, on a three-year excess of loss reinsurance contract that attaches at $300 million.

Avalon Re is a Cayman Islands-domiciled insurance company formed solely to issue the variable-rate notes, enter into a reinsurance contract with OCIL, and to conduct activities related to the notes? issuance.

The variable-rate notes are insurance-linked collateralised securities that will suffer a loss of principal if OCIL?s aggregate insured losses exceed a specified threshold that varies by note class.

2. is a limited-life, special-purpose Class 3 Bermuda reinsurance company, set up specifically to offer quota share reinsurance to Class of 2006 member Harbor Point Re Ltd.

Harbor Point and Bay Point have entered into a quota share reinsurance agreement pursuant to which Harbor Point will cede to Bay Point 30 percent of certain lines of short-tail business written by Harbor Point for the 2006 and 2007 underwriting years.

Bay Point Re may borrow up to $125 million from a consortium of banks for five years. The entity?s capital structure will include an equal amount of equity. Several funds managed by GoldenTree Asset Management are the principal investors in Bay Point Re.

3. Montpelier Re Holdings formed as a Bermuda Class 3 retrocessional reinsurer in which Montpelier owns 49 percent. MRH will therefore consolidate the results of Blue Ocean Re, which writes fully-collateralised property catastrophe retrocessional coverage for parties other than Montpelier.

At inception, Blue Ocean Re had capital commitments of $300 million in common and preferred equity, including a $133 million investment by Montpelier. The other investors were not identified. Blue Ocean Re has not sought a rating.

4. In December 2005, Montpelier Re entered into two transactions providing $90 million in catastrophe protection with , a Cayman Island company.

The coverage is based on modelled market loss triggers.

Upon the occurrence of an earthquake or hurricane in the covered territories, the parameters of the catastrophe event are determined and modelled against the notional portfolios.

If the modelled loss to the notional portfolio exceeds the attachment point for the event, or second event for the second transaction, then Montpelier will receive immediate payment from Champlain under the counterparty agreement.

Champlain financed the transactions through the issuance of $90 million in cat bonds. Fitch assigned a B- rating to the variable-rate notes due 2009 that supported the transactions.

5. XL Capital will cede up to $500 million through quota share counter-party , a Bermuda company in which XL has no ownership.

Cyrus Re is not entirely unrelated, however: XL has an equity position in hedge fund manager Highfields Capital Management, the company that owns Cyrus Re. Cyrus Re is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cyrus Reinsurance Holdings SPC, and is licensed as a Class 3 Bermuda insurance company.

XL is ceding property catastrophe and some of its acquired retrocessional business to Cyrus Re, having initially funded a collateral trust with $525 million to support such reinsurance activities. Bermudian Robin Spencer-Arscott is president of Cyrus Re.

6. is a limited-life, special-purpose Class 3 Bermuda reinsurance company set up specifically to offer retrocessional capacity to Arch Reinsurance.

Flatiron Re has established a $256 million term loan facility. The company may borrow up to $520 million from a consortium of banks for a term of at most five years, receive equal amounts of equity from investors in its parent holding company, and ? after setting aside a ?small portion? to cover transaction costs ? will invest the proceeds in a portfolio of investment-grade securities within a collateral trust account.

Flatiron Re assumed a 45 percent quota share of certain lines of property and marine business underwritten by Arch Re for unaffiliated third parties for the 2006 and 2007 underwriting years.

7. Effective January 1, 2006, Sirius International, a subsidiary of Bermuda?s White Mountains Insurance Group, stopped ceding business to Olympus Re. Folksamerica, another White Mountains subsidiary, renewed its quota share treaty with Olympus Re on modified terms.

Under the revised arrangements, for an override commission on premiums ceded, Folksamerica now cedes up to 35 percent of its 2006 short-tail excess of loss business, mainly property and marine, to Olympus Re and a newly-formed reinsurer, .

Olympus Re, a sidecar, thus now has a sidecar of its own.

8. is a sidecar of Class of 2005 member Flagstone Re. Monte Fort, whose name is the Italian version of Mont Fort, a tall peak in the Swiss resort of Verbier, has $60 million in initial capital.

It writes a diversified book of industry loss warranty and regular exposures, with a focus on peak zones. Lehman Brothers is believed to be the lead investor.

9. On May 15, 2006, Validus Reinsurance, another member of the Class of 2005, announced a collateralised quota share retrocession agreement with . The $200 million facility will be used for marine and energy risks.

Petrel Re is assuming a 75 percent quota share of certain lines of marine and offshore energy reinsurance contracts underwritten by Validus Re for the 2006 and 2007 underwriting years. Other lines of business are expected to be added over time.

The equity investor in Petrel Re is ?one or more private investment funds? managed by First Reserve Corporation.

10. was set up in the Cayman Islands last summer by Montpelier Reinsurance Holdings and West End Capital, the Bermuda-based hedge fund manager. (West End Capital has since been rolled into Flagstone Re Holdings, the parent of Flagstone Re.)

Rockridge was capitalised at $91 million, and was established to invest its assets in a fixed-income arbitrage strategy, and to assume high-layer, short-tail reinsurance risks, principally ceded by Montpelier Re, which invested $10 million for 11 percent of Rockridge.

11. Endurance Specialty Insurance, a subsidiary of Class of 2001 member Endurance Specialty Holdings, formed , a Cayman Islands reinsurance company, two weeks ago.

Endurance Specialty Insurance has acquired $235 million of multi-year, collateralised catastrophe reinsurance from Shackleton Re.

The reinsurance consists of three separate coverages.

The first is $125 million of reinsurance for earthquake risk in California over the next 18 months.

The second consists of $60 million of protection for hurricanes in the US Northeast, Gulf Coast and certain inland states over the next two years.

The final coverage provides $50 million of reinsurance for losses over the next two years resulting from hurricanes or California earthquakes following occurrence of a major hurricane or California earthquake during the same year.

Shackleton Re financed the reinsurance coverage through the issuance of a $125 million risk-linked catastrophe bond and entered into a $110 million multi-year risk-linked credit facility. Goldman, Sachs acted as the initial purchaser for the catastrophe bond.

12. Class of 2005 start-up Lancashire Holdings has invested $20 million in a Bermudian sidecar named . Sirocco and Lancashire have entered into a rolling one-year quota share agreement in respect of Gulf of Mexico offshore energy risks. Sirocco is not currently writing risks directly and Lancashire is entitled to a ceding commission and profit commission from Sirocco.

13 and 14. and are both fully collateralised joint ventures to which RenaissanceRe will cede the premium from a defined selection of its property catastrophe business. In the first half of 2006, RenaissanceRe took to its income statement $111.3 million of gross written premiums that were written on behalf of Starbound and Timicuan.

Starbound may borrow up to $190 million from a consortium of banks for a term of about 21 months.

The entity?s capital structure will also include $125 million of equity.

The proceeds from capital-raising transactions will be placed in a collateral account, which will provide RenaissanceRe with a source of indemnity cover for losses relating to its property catastrophe lines of business and other related lines.

15. In May, before its recent troubles began, Scottish Re Group entered into a transaction with , a special purpose vehicle, that would allow Tartan Capital to receive up to $155 million of payments in the event of severe population mortality.

Tartan Capital issued $155 million of principal at risk notes to investors to fund any future obligations it may have. The notes were issued in two classes, and each will provide three years of collateralised mortality protection. Tartan Capital was designed with a shelf structure to enable potential future issuances up to a total of $300 million.