W. R. Berkley cedes more premium again to Lifson Re sidecar, earns more fees in Q1 2026

W. R. Berkley Corporation, the US-headquartered insurance holding company, once again reported higher premiums being ceded to its Lifson Re collateralized reinsurance sidecar for Q1 2026, while the company also recognised more fee income being earned from the structure.

Recall that W. R. Berkley capitalised the Lifson Re sidecar to the tune of $418 million for 2025, which marked the vehicle’s largest capital raise at the time.

There’s been no change for the 2026 underwriting year, with the sidecar’s capitalisation remaining static and W. R. Berkley’s stake and the quota share cession ratio both remaining at 32.5%.

But steadily, W. R. Berkley has been ceding higher amounts of premium to the sidecar as it utilises the vehicle to help manage risk, while also generating returns for the company.

The company had reported written premiums ceded to the sidecar rising to $494 million for full-year 2025, which was the highest annual level the company had recorded to date.

For the first-quarter of 2026, W. R. Berkley said that it ceded just over $118. 5 million of premiums to Lifson Re, which was higher than the Q1 2025 figure of just over $106 million.

Ceded commissions and brokerage also rose, to $33.9 million, up from $30.4 million a year earlier.

But, more importantly, fee income generated from management and performance related compensation related to the sidecar rose to $3 million for Q1 2026, up from just $1 million a year earlier.

W. R. Berkley utilises Lifson Re to help it manage gross premiums and its own capital by partnering with third-party capital partners, recognising efficiency benefits and some fee income generation, all while managing exposure with the help of Lifson Re as well.

As a reminder, you can find details of numerous reinsurance sidecar investments and transactions in our directory of collateralized reinsurance sidecars transactions.