Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. has entered into two transactions providing $90 million in catastrophe protection with Cayman Island-based Champlain Ltd.

The three years of coverage are based on modelled market loss triggers. If the modelled loss to the notional portfolio exceeds the attachment point for the event, or second event for the second transaction, then Montpelier will receive immediate payment from Champlain under the counter-party agreement. The amount of such payment is determined with reference to the modelled loss without regard for the actual losses in Montpelier?s book of business.

Anthony Taylor, chairman, president and chief executive said, ?With the completion of this transaction, we are supplementing our risk management program to seek to provide further insulation from large catastrophe events.

The $90 million of new risk capital provided by this multi-year collateralised agreement, when combined with nearly $1.4 billion of existing capital at September 30, 2005, provides us with useful additional resources to meet our obligations to our clients in certain extreme loss scenarios.?

The first transaction provides for the payment of up to $75 million for modelled market losses arising from earthquakes in United States or Japan. The second transaction provides for the payment of up to $15 million for second event modelled market losses arising from multiple hurricane and/or earthquake events in the United States, excluding Alaska and Hawaii.

Champlain Limited financed the transaction through the issuance of $90 million in catastrophe bonds.

PXRE Group Ltd. has entered into a $250 million collateralised transaction with a Cayman Islands reinsurer to cover second-event natural disaster losses.

The Hamilton, Bermuda-based reinsurer is buying the protection from Atlantic & Western Re II Ltd. to cover significant second-event losses that arise from hurricanes on the eastern and Gulf coasts in the United States, windstorms in northern Europe and earthquakes in California.

Under the arrangement, a first tranche of coverage, written as a one-year deal, provides $125 million of protection from January 1, 2006, through December 31, 2006. A second tranche, which is a three-year arrangement, offers $125 million from January 1, 2006, through December 31, 2008.

Atlantic & Western Re II financed the coverage through the issuance of $250 million in catastrophe bonds.