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RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2015
Related Party Transactions [Abstract]  
Related Party Transactions

A member of the Company’s Board of Directors, Mr. Charles Davis, is the Chief Executive Officer of Stone Point Capital, LLC ("Stone Point"). In the ordinary course of business, we engage SKY Harbor Capital Management, LLC, an affiliate of Stone Point, for asset management services for certain of our short duration high yield debt portfolios and StoneRiver RegEd, also an affiliate of Stone Point, for broker and adjuster licensing, appointment and compliance services. During 2015, total fees paid to these Stone Point companies were $4 million (2014: $4 million; 2013: $2 million).
We currently have $30 million committed to the NXT Capital Senior Loan Fund II and $30 million committed to NXT Capital Senior Loan Fund III . The manager of these funds is an indirect subsidiary of NXT Capital Holdings, L.P. ("NXT Capital"). Investment funds managed by Stone Point own approximately 45% of NXT Capital. During 2015, fees paid to NXT Capital totaled $1 million (2014: $1 million).
Our Chairman, Mr. Butt, received $1 million in consulting fee payments in 2015 pursuant to the terms of a consulting agreement by and between Mr. Butt and the Company dated May 3, 2012, as amended December 5, 2013, and December 4, 2014 (2014: $1 million; 2013: $1 million). The consulting agreement was further amended on January 15, 2016 to extend the term of the agreement to the Company's 2017 Annual General Meeting for an annual fee of $1 million.

Our investments portfolio includes certain investments where we are considered to have the ability to exercise significant influence over the investment entity's operations.  Significant influence is generally deemed to exist where we have an investment of 20% or more in the common stock of a corporation or an investment of 3% or more in closed end funds, limited partnerships, LLCs or similar investment vehicles.  At December 31, 2015 we have $193 million (2014: $366 million) of investments where we are deemed to have the ability to exercise such significant influence.  We generally pay management and performance fees to the investment managers of these investments. We consider all fees paid to the investment managers to be at market rates consistent with negotiated arms-length contracts.

As discussed further in Note 14 'Noncontrolling Interests', during November 2013, the Company formed Ventures Re, a Bermuda domiciled insurer. With effect from January 1, 2015, Ventures Re is no longer consolidated in the financial statements of the Company. All of Ventures Re's directors are also employees of the Company. In the normal course of business, the Company enters into certain reinsurance contracts with Ventures Re. During the year ended December 31, 2015, the Company ceded premiums of $19 million to Ventures Re and recovered ceded losses of $23 million. In addition, Ventures Re also paid certain acquisition costs and administrative fees to the Company. We believe that all transactions were conducted at market rates consistent with negotiated arms-length contracts.