Bermuda-based reinsurer Validus Holdings Ltd last night posted record net operating earnings of $171.2 million that beat the expectations of Wall Street analysts by more than 25 percent.The company benefited from the absence of notable loss events, as it recorded net income of $167.6 million in the second quarter, compared to $109.9 million in the same period in 2011.Net operating income was $1.65 per share, comfortably exceeding the $1.30 per share consensus of analysts polled by Yahoo Finance.For the first time, the results included the AlphaCat Re 2012 sidecar and PaCRe, a joint venture between Validus and Paulson & Co, the asset management firm owned by esteemed hedge fund manager John Paulson.Validus CEO Ed Noonan said: “We are gratified by the reception to both AlphaCat Re 2012 and PaCRe from clients and intermediaries who have welcomed the deployment of additional managed property catastrophe capacity accessible through Validus.”Annualised operating return on average equity for the quarter was 19.5 percent.“These results and growth in diluted book value per share of 4.3 percent, inclusive of dividends, reflect the strength of the Validus franchise in our core short tail classes of reinsurance and insurance and our active capital management,” Mr Noonan said. “All three of our segments — Validus Re, Talbot and AlphaCat — are firing on all cylinders.”The company wrote more business as total managed gross premiums for the April through June period, which include the business of sidecars AlphaCat 2011 and AlphaCat 2012, rose 10.8 percent year over year to $670.5 million.Combined ratio, a reflection of underwriting profitability and the proportion of premium dollars spent on claims and expenses, was 66.6 percent. This included $37.6 million of favourable loss reserve development on prior accident years, benefiting the loss ratio by 8.4 percentage points.Validus ended the quarter with shareholders’ equity of $3.5 billion, plus $407 million of non-controlling interest. Diluted book value per common share was $34.43 at June 30, 2012, compared to $33.25 at March 31, 2012.