Reinsurance firm PartnerRe yesterday unveiled operating earnings of $185 million for the third quarter of the year.

That compares to a figure of $211.6 million for the same quarter of 2015.

Net income for the quarter totalled $240.3 million — an annualised net income return on equity of 15.4 per cent.

The net loss for the third quarter of last year totalled $243.3 million partly due to the $315 million in amalgamation termination fee and reimbursement of expenses paid to Axis Capital.

PartnerRe president and CEO Emmanuel Clarke said: “We delivered strong results in the third quarter with operating return on equity and net income return on equity of 11.9 per cent and 15.4 per cent respectively.”

He added: “The third quarter was also a very active quarter on the corporate side, with the implementation of our new organisation, the strengthening of our leadership team with appointment of James Beedle as our new head of Asia Pacific, the launch of our $750 million Eurobond to refinance a portion of our liabilities and the activities that led to the acquisition of Aurigen, which we announced last week.

“These are important achievements that will position us very well for the longer term.”

The results for the third quarter also include a pre-tax figure of $13 million related to severance costs associated with the firm’s reorganisation of its investment operations and some executive changes.

The company, taken over by Italian investment company Exor last year after a long-running battle with rival bidder Axis, also paid a $90 million dividend to its parent company.