Validus Holdings Ltd is the second Bermuda-based reinsurance group in a matter of days to announce the launch of a new sidecar for the 2012 hurricane season.RenaissanceRe last Friday announced the formation of its sidecar, Timicuan Re III. Now Validus has announced that together with other investors, they have capitalised and launched a new sidecar reinsurer AlphaCat Re 2012 Ltd.AlphaCat 2012, the latest in the company’s AlphaCat sidecar series, is a Bermuda special purpose reinsurer formed to write collateralised reinsurance with a focus on the hurricane risks in the Florida insurance market. The vehicle has been funded with $70 million of equity capital, some of which comes from Validus itself with the rest from outside investors. Their AlphaCat 2011 sidecar was capitalised at $180 million.“AlphaCat 2012 reflects the continued expansion of Validus’ franchise in the important property catastrophe reinsurance market,” said Ed Noonan, chairman and CEO of Validus. “We are very pleased to be able to provide additional capacity to our customers, and with the level of support for AlphaCat 2012 provided by investors and intermediaries.”