What’s New: In Brief (June 21, 2007)

Kingsway Financial Services Inc. has announced its newly-formed, wholly-owned subsidiary, Kingsway 2007 General Partnership, has filed a preliminary short form prospectus with the securities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces and territories of Canada for a proposed public offering of senior unsecured debentures.
The offering will be jointly and severally guaranteed by Kingsway and Kingsway America Inc.
The debentures will only be qualified with securities regulatory authorities in Canada and will be sold through a syndicate of underwriters led by Scotia Capital Inc. and including RBC Dominion Securities Inc.
The net proceeds of this offering are expected to be used to provide additional capital to Kingsway and its indirect and direct subsidiaries to support the expected growth of business and for general corporate purposes, which will include the payment of all or a portion of the amount outstanding under its revolving credit facility, Kingsway announced in a press release.

One day after the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) endorsed a proposed 10-year extension of the United States Terrorism Insurance Act (TRIA), the Bush Administration has criticized the proposed extension as, among other things, too long.
The Bush administration has signaled its plans to expand the current federal reinsurance backstop for terrorism risks.
U.S. Treasury official David G. Nason recently testified before a House of Representatives subcommittee that any TRIA extension should probably be established at two or three years at the most.
“It’s important that the program remain temporary and short-term, given the positive developments we’ve seen in the last five years, A.M. Best quoted Nason as saying. We do not believe the government’s role should be permanent, nor should it be long term, which could lead to market complacency.
According to A.M. Best, Nason also suggested the administration would oppose efforts to expand the program to include new lines, such as the bill’s proposal to create a separate US$5-billion recoupment pool to cover group life insurance, as well as a plan to lower the program’s “trigger level” from US$100 million to US$50 million.
The trigger is the minimum amount of damage a terrorist attack must cause before federal coverage is provided.