Barents Re plans to relocate to the UK by year-end 2020

Barents Reinsurance (Barents Re Luxembourg) has unveiled its plans to relocate and establish a new licensed reinsurance carrier domiciled in the UK.

The new carrier will acquire all of the assets and liabilities of Barents Re Lux pursuant to a merger by absorption and a portfolio transfer. The transaction is expected to complete by the end of the year.

Following the announcement, ratings agency AM Best has maintained the negative outlooks on its financial strength rating of A. The outlook was revised to negative from stable in December 2019.

AM Best noted that Barents Re Lux benefits from ongoing implicit and explicit support from the parent, Barents Re Reinsurance Company, which will be enhanced further by the addition of a whole account stop-loss agreement to protect the company’s operating performance until the merger is complete.

AM Best believes that there is "significant execution risk" and will closely monitor the progression of the transactions.