Debt and financing arrangements (Tables)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2011

Debt and financing arrangements [Abstract]

Schedule of financing structure

          The financing structure at June 30, 2011 was:

	Commitment		Outstanding (a)		Drawn
2006 Junior Subordinated Deferrable Debentures	$	150,000	$	150,000	$	150,000
2007 Junior Subordinated Deferrable Debentures		200,000		139,800		139,800
2010 Senior Notes due 2040		250,000		250,000		246,928
$340,000 syndicated unsecured letter of credit facility		340,000		—		—
$60,000 bilateral unsecured letter of credit facility		60,000		—		—
$500,000 secured letter of credit facility		500,000		277,679		—
Talbot FAL Facility (b)		25,000		25,000		—
IPC Bi-Lateral Facility		80,000		63,284		—
Total	$	1,605,000	$	905,763	$	536,728

          The financing structure at December 31, 2010 was:

	Commitment		Outstanding (a)		Drawn
2006 Junior Subordinated Deferrable Debentures	$	150,000	$	150,000	$	150,000
2007 Junior Subordinated Deferrable Debentures		200,000		139,800		139,800
2010 Senior Notes due 2040		250,000		250,000		246,874
$340,000 syndicated unsecured letter of credit facility		340,000		—		—
$60,000 bilateral unsecured letter of credit facility		60,000		—		—
$500,000 secured letter of credit facility		500,000		268,944		—
Talbot FAL Facility (b)		25,000		25,000		—
IPC Bi-Lateral Facility		80,000		68,063		—
Total	$	1,605,000	$	901,807	$	536,674

(a)

Indicates utilization of commitment amount, not drawn borrowings.

(b)

Talbot operates in Lloyd’s through a corporate member, Talbot 2002 Underwriting Capital Ltd (“T02”), which is the sole participant in Syndicate 1183. Lloyd’s sets T02’s required capital annually based on Syndicate 1183’s business plan, rating environment, reserving environment together with input arising from Lloyd’s discussions with, inter alia, regulatory and rating agencies. Such capital, called Funds at Lloyd’s (“FAL”), comprises: cash, investments and undrawn letters of credit provided by various banks.

Components of finance expenses

     Finance expenses consist of interest on our junior subordinated deferrable debentures and senior notes, the amortization of debt offering costs, fees relating to our credit facilities, fees relating to the capitalization of AlphaCat Re 2011 and the costs of FAL as follows:

	Three Months Ended					Six Months Ended
	June 30,		June 30,			June 30,		June 30,
	2011		2010			2011		2010
2006 Junior Subordinated Deferrable Debentures	$	3,228	$	3,589		$	6,816	$	7,177
2007 Junior Subordinated Deferrable Debentures		3,028		3,028			6,057		6,057
2010 Senior Notes due 2040		5,597		5,597			11,194		9,575
Credit facilities		1,589		1,109			3,313		2,420
AlphaCat Re 2011 fees (a)		2,919		—			2,919		—
Talbot FAL Facility		—		(89	)		63		333
Talbot other interest		—		(16	)		—		59
Talbot third party FAL facility		—		—			—		2,748
Total	$	16,361	$	13,218		$	30,362	$	28,369

(a) Includes finance expenses attributable to noncontrolling interest.

Future expected payments of interest

2011	$	11,094
2012		22,188
2013		22,188
2014		22,188
2015 and thereafter		565,780
Total minimum future payments	$	643,438

Future expected payments of principal and interest

     Future expected payments of interest and principal on the 2006 and 2007 Junior Subordinated Deferrable Debentures are as follows:

2011	$	5,928
2012		5,928
2013		—
2014		—
2015 and thereafter		289,800
Total minimum future payments	$	301,656