April's hailstorm in Australia and the tornadoes which hit the US in May.

Their estimate yesterday followed a day after PartnerRe's pegging of its liability on claims arising out of the two freak weather patterns, also at around $50 million. ACE CEO, chairman and president Brian Duperreault said the huge sum was not alarming.

"It is the nature of our business to provide coverage for these types of catastrophic events, which serves to underscore the importance of our products and services provided to our insureds,'' he said.

"Although it is not customary to comment on specific losses, in light of the pending transactions we felt it important to do so.''