-captures. Mortality experience in our North American segment was favorable to plan for the second consecutive quarter. We also exited our Middle Eastern business through a retrocession arrangement with Arab Insurance Group because that business did not meet our strategic objectives, "said the company.

Scottish Re initiated the first phase of its restructuring program, incurring $20.3 million of restructuring expenses.

Paul Goldean, outgoing chief executive officer, said: "Following the completion of the equity investment transaction with affiliates of MassMutual Capital Partners and Cerberus Capital Management on May 7, we have taken the first steps towards re-establishing our position as a leading global life reinsurance company. We initiated a series of process improvement initiatives across the Company focused on strengthening our financial, risk management and operational controls."

Mr. Goldean has resigned from the board of directors and will be replaced as CEO by George Zippel today.

Mr. Goldean added: "We have also undertaken a detailed review of our non-prime investment exposure which includes $2.1 billion of subprime residential Asset Backed Securities and an additional $1.0 billion of Alt-A Residential Mortgage Backed Securities. We are working actively with our third party investment managers to further evaluate and proactively manage our subprime and Alt-A exposures."