Everest Re Group Ltd. has announced that its subsidiary, Everest Reinsurance Co., has applied to the Brazilian regulatory authorities for approval as an occasional reinsurer.

The initial approval is the prelude to Everest's planned entry as an admitted reinsurer, as it commences establishing a representative office in Brazil.

Everest Re became the third Bermuda-based company in recent weeks to set up base in the Brazilian reinsurance market, following in the footsteps of XL Re and PartnerRe.

Everest has more than 30 years' experience in the Brazilian reinsurance market and will be looking to build on that as Bermuda establishes its presence in the South American country.

In the past Brazil has excluded foreign companies from underwriting risks directly and the only way in for them was through partnerships with the state-owned IRB, which had until this point a monopoly on the sale of reinsurance for the past 69 years.

Now foreign reinsurers will be able to have a share of the market, expected to be worth almost $4 billion in the next two years.