Berkshire Taps Insider To Head Gen Re Unit -- WSJ

By Anupreeta Das 

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has appointed one of its longtime reinsurance executives, Kara Raiguel, to the post of chief executive of its General Re unit, according to a memo.

Ms. Raiguel will take the reins from Tad Montross, who is retiring. She will report to Ajit Jain, who heads Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group and has long been considered a potential CEO successor to Warren Buffett. Mr. Montross reported directly to Mr. Buffett.

Mr. Jain called Ms. Raiguel his "secret weapon" in a memo to Gen Re employees announcing her new role. He described her as "high-energy, collegial and fast-thinking," adding that Ms. Raiguel is a "true Renaissance woman in the insurance and reinsurance industry."

Mr. Jain said in the memo he has been evaluating Gen Re's business in recent weeks, given the headwinds the reinsurance industry has faced in recent years from an onslaught of new money that is pushing down prices.

For the next three months, Ms. Raiguel's priority will be to "determine how best to grow Gen Re's book of business" without sacrificing its business principles.

Berkshire owns dozens of insurance companies, from auto insurer Geico to reinsurers such as Gen Re, which help other insurers offload some of their underwriting risk. Mr. Jain, a 30-year veteran of Berkshire, helped fuel the conglomerate's growth by turning the obscure reinsurance business into a source of fat profits.

Berkshire acquired Gen Re in 1998. Together, Gen Re and the reinsurance division that Mr. Jain leads account for nearly three-quarters of Berkshire's $88 billion of "float" -- money that insurance businesses hold and invest for their benefit, exploiting the fact that premiums are paid up front and claims generally are paid out much later.

Write to Anupreeta Das at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 21, 2016 02:48 ET (06:48 GMT)

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