Bermuda-based reinsurer Validus Holdings Ltd saw its fourth-quarter net income fall by 38 percent after it suffered an estimated $51.8 million in catastrophe losses.The company posted earnings of $102.7 million for the last three months of last year, compared to $165.8 million for the same period a year earlier.Earnings per share were $1.40, beating the $1.29 estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg.The flooding in Queensland, Australia delivered the biggest hit to Validus, costing around $25 million, while political violence the company did not specify where cost another $12.5 million.The company expects a negative impact of $8.8 million from a satellite loss and $5.5 million from the failure of a financial institution.Full-year net income for 2010 was $402.6 million compared to $897.4 million in 2009.Ed Noonan, chairman and chief executive officer of Validus, said: “The worldwide reinsurance market absorbed multiple significant loss events in 2010, including earthquakes in Chile and New Zealand, flooding and severe weather in Australia, and Deepwater Horizon, among others.“With all of this, Validus increased book value per share plus dividends by 14.1 percent during 2010.“After five full years of operations, Validus has grown diluted book value per share plus dividends at a compounded annual rate of 15.9 percent and generated cumulative net income of $1.94 billion.”The company revealed that during the January renewal season, the Validus Re segment underwrote $525.3 million in gross premiums written, a decrease of 8.5 percent from the prior year period.Renewals for US property business were down 11.9 percent and 19 percent down for international property business, 8.1 percent down for specialty business.Marine business saw a gain of 8.1 percent, as Validus saw “saw additional opportunities and rate increases” in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon loss.“As we approached the January 2011 renewal season, we expected competitive market conditions,” Mr Noonan said. “Our approach was to deploy our significant capacity where pricing warranted it, and to seek out clients where our ability to generate customised solutions brought additional value we could get paid for.”