Bowhead Specialty Valuation Multiples

Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company with a wide array of subsidiaries engaged in diverse activities. The firm's core business segment is insurance, run primarily through Geico, Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group, and Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group. Berkshire has used the excess cash thrown off from its operations to acquire Burlington Northern Santa Fe (railroad), Berkshire Hathaway Energy (utilities and energy distributors), and the companies that make up its manufacturing, service, and retailing operations (which include Precision Castparts, Lubrizol, Clayton Homes, Marmon, and IMC/ISCAR). The conglomerate is unique in that it is run on a completely decentralized basis. Berkshire is expected to generate close to $375 billion in revenue in 2025.

Allianz was founded as a transport and accident insurance firm in 1890 by Carl von Thieme and Wilhelm von Finck, the founders of Munich Re. It took the company five years to expand the business into Europe and North America and subsequently list in Berlin. After World War I, individuals were confronted with the loss of wealth, life, and security and Allianz founded a life business in the 1920s. In the years after World War II, Allianz's foreign assets were seized, and it lost its foreign business. By relocating its head office from Berlin to Munich in 1948, Allianz began the long road of rebuilding its domestic business. It took 20 years for the company to reacquire its prior foreign interests, starting in Austria. It became the largest European insurer in the postwar boom era.

Ping An Insurance was founded in 1988 and headquartered in Shenzhen. As an integrated financial service provider, the company offers healthcare services and integrated financial products. Ping An is China's second-largest life and P&C insurer. The company strives for an integrated financial services platform comprising life insurance, P&C insurance, banking, and other financial services. These business segments contributed 58%, 11%, 32%, and negative 4% of the company’s pretax profits, respectively, in 2024.

As the largest life insurance company in China, China Life commands about 16% market share by end-2024. The firm offers group and individual life insurance through exclusive agents, bancassurance, and other marketing platforms. While the bulk of profits stem from life insurance policies, additional operations include short-term policies such as accident and health insurance. The company is focusing on building a senior-care ecosystem and reforming a new agent team for long-term growth.

ACE acquired Chubb in the first quarter of 2016 and assumed the Chubb name. The combination made the new Chubb one of the largest domestic property and casualty insurers, with operations in 54 countries spanning commercial and personal P&C insurance, reinsurance, and life insurance.

Headquartered in Hong Kong, AIA is one of the largest pan-Asian insurance providers with diversifed products offerings including retirement savings plans, life insurance, and accident and health insurance. It was previously part of American International Group and went for a separate listing in Hong Kong in 2010. The firm also provides employee benefits, credit life, and pension services to corporate clients. AIA operates in 18 markets and serves the holders of more than 30 million individual policies and over 16 million participating members of group insurance schemes.

Progressive underwrites private and commercial auto insurance and specialty lines; it has almost 24 million personal auto policies in force and is one of the largest auto insurers in the United States. Progressive markets its policies through independent insurance agencies in the US and Canada and directly via the internet and telephone. Its premiums are split roughly equally between the agent and the direct channel. The company also offers commercial auto policies and entered homeowners insurance through an acquisition in 2015.

Zurich is a multiline insurer that writes business across both life and nonlife insurance and also owns Farmers Management Services. Zurich was founded in 1872 as a marine reinsurer to provide reinsurance to its parent company. The company subsequently expanded into transport and accident insurance and rode the wave of transport technology innovation that drove rising demand for insurance. One of Zurich’s early principles was that setting prices too low would result in unfair claims handling, which would be damaging to both customers and Zurich. Over the years, Zurich has sought to combine customer goodwill through claims and a sufficient premium. Zurich is one of the most successful European multilines.

AXA’s origins date back to Ancienne Mutuelle, which was one of the few insurers that remained after the creation of the French social security system. With the threat of nationalization, a merger took place between Drouot and AXA (still known as Mutuelles Unies in 1982) and later Présence. Ten years later, AXA acquired North American life insurer Equitable Holdings. This was a time of expansion as AXA also bought the French insurer UAP. As markets crashed at the turn of the millennium, AXA decided to refocus its business and exited its stake in US investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. A few years later the firm expanded again with the acquisition of Swiss insurer Winterthur. About five years ago, AXA started to reshape its portfolio to technical risks.

Dating back to 1879, Tokio Marine is Japan’s oldest insurance company and was its top property and casualty insurer in terms of market share for many decades. After mergers of its smaller rivals in the past few years, the company is now roughly the same size in the domestic nonlife market as MS&AD and Sompo, but it remains the most valuable listed Japanese insurer in terms of market capitalization due to its larger overseas business portfolio. The majority of its overseas business is in the US, where it has purchased four specialty insurers since 2008: Philadelphia Consolidated, Delphi Financial, HCC, and PURE.

Elevance Health remains one of the leading health insurers in the US, providing medical benefits to 46 million medical members as of June 2025. The company offers employer, individual, and government-sponsored coverage plans. Elevance differs from its peers in its unique position as the largest single provider of Blue Cross Blue Shield branded coverage, operating as the licensee for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association in 14 states. Through acquisitions, such as the Amerigroup deal in 2012 and MMM in 2021, Elevance's reach expands beyond those states through government-sponsored programs, such as Medicaid and Medicare Advantage plans, too. It is also an emerging player in pharmacy benefit management and other healthcare services.

Munich Re was founded in 1880 by Carl Thieme amid a flurry of other reinsurance companies set up independently of primaries. In those early days, most reinsurers typically focused on a few strong customers. Thieme focused on a broader set of cedents to drive stronger growth in premiums. This coincided with a strategy of risk diversification and a preference to partner rather than take on a one-sided transfer of risk. In the 1890s, Munich Re introduced the first machinery insurance. After Thieme and Wilhelm von Fink founded Allianz, this was the main channel to sell insurance on machinery. We believe the approach of partnering with insurers and preferring to avoid one-sided risk, in conjunction with combining inspection and insurance services, remains at the heart of the firm.

Cigna primarily provides pharmacy benefit management and health insurance services. Its PBM and specialty pharmacy services, which were greatly expanded by its 2018 merger with Express Scripts, are mostly sold to health insurance plans and employers. Its largest PBM contract is with the Department of Defense (current contract through 2029), and it recently won a multiyear deal with top-tier insurer Centene. In health insurance and other benefits, Cigna primarily serves employers through self-funding arrangements, and the company operates mostly in the US with 17 million US and 2 million international medical members covered as of December 2024.

The roots of Generali date back to the 1830s and the Bora wind and rough seas that hit the Trieste region. Over that decade, Generali sought to expand throughout Italy, but this growth was held back by the fragmented nature of Italy. The Italian Revolution in the 1840s paved the way for easier expansion in the country. After World War I, Trieste was handed back to Italy. The dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire created a fragmented Europe and a fragmented Generali. To this day, Generali remains quite a diversified company, but its core operations remain in the historical Austro-Hungarian countries of Austria, Central and Eastern Europe, Germany, and Italy. This is the case in Generali’s nonlife business, and France is also an important contributor to life and savings.

Manulife Financial is one of the Big Three Canadian life insurers. The firm provides life insurance, annuities, asset management, and wealth management products to individuals and group customers in Canada, the United States, and Asia. The Canadian business segment contributes approximately 22% of adjusted earnings. The Asia segment operates across 12 countries and contributes around 36% of earnings, with a significant presence in Hong Kong and Singapore. The US business, which primarily operates under the John Hancock brand, contributes about 23% of earnings. Manulife’s global asset and wealth management business contributes approximately 20% of its earnings and had around CAD 1.03 trillion in assets under management and administration as of the end of 2024.

Travelers offers a broad product range and participates in both commercial and personal insurance lines. Its commercial operations offer a variety of coverage types for companies of any size but concentrate on serving midsize businesses. Its personal lines are roughly evenly split between auto and homeowners insurance.

Aflac Inc offers supplemental health insurance and life insurance in the United States and Japan. In addition to its cancer policies, the company has broadened its product offerings to include accident, dental and vision, disability, and long-term-care insurance. It markets its products through independent distributors, selling the majority of its policies directly to consumers at their places of work, and also reaches out to its customers outside of their worksite through digital mediums. The company has two reportable business segments; Aflac Japan which generates the majority of the revenue, and Aflac U.S.

Allstate is one of the largest US property-casualty insurers in the US. Personal auto represents the largest percentage of revenue, but the company offers homeowners insurance and other insurance products. Allstate products are sold in North America primarily by about 6,000 exclusive agents.

Life Insurance Corporation of India is engaged in providing life insurance in India. The company offers diversified product portfolio covering various segments across individual products and group products.

MetLife is one of the largest life insurers in the US by assets and provides a variety of life insurance and annuity products. It is organized into six segments: Group Benefits, Retirement and Income Solutions, Asia, Latin America, Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA), and MetLife Holdings (products in run-off). Group Benefits and RIS are US-based, contributing to around 48% of the firm’s 2024 adjusted earnings. The Asia segment contributes around 25% of earnings, mainly tied to Japan. The company also holds leading market positions in Mexico and Chile, with the Latin America segment contributing around 13% of 2024 earnings. The EMEA and MetLife Holdings segments contributed around 4% and 10% of 2024 earnings, respectively.

Great-West Lifeco is one of the Big Three Canadian life insurers. The firm's Canadian business contributed around 30% of adjusted earnings. The firm generates a further 32% of adjusted earnings from the United States, attributable to its recordkeeping business, Empower, and its US life insurance business. Great-West Lifeco also offers various products across European markets with a strong presence in the UK and Ireland, which collectively accounted for 20% of adjusted earnings, while the firm's reinsurance business accounts for the remainder. Great-West Lifeco had around CAD 3.5 trillion of assets under administration across its business segments at the end of September 2025.

Established in 1988, China Pacific Insurance is China's third-largest life insurer and third-largest general property and casualty insurer, with headquarters in Beijing. The company strives to create an integrated financial services platform that encompasses insurance, banking, and asset management. CPIC's major shareholders are state-owned companies related to the Shanghai government.

PICC Group, headquartered in Beijing, is the largest state-owned insurance group in China. It holds a 69% stake in PICC Property and Casualty, an 80% stake in PICC Life, and a 69% stake in PICC Health Insurance. The P&C subsidiary is the largest nonlife insurer in the country, with approximately one-third of market share. The life insurance and health insurance subsidiaries hold about 2.9% and 1.3% of market share, respectively. The Ministry of Finance is the largest shareholder with a 61% stake, while China's Social Security Fund is the second-largest shareholder, holding nearly 13%.

PICC P&C is headquartered in Beijing. The company is the largest nonlife insurer in China, commanding nearly 33% market share in the country. It was founded by the People's Bank of China in 1949. The company is a flagship subsidiary of the PICC Group, a state-owned insurance group, which owns 69% of PICC P&C. The company offers a wide range of nonlife insurance products, including auto, commercial property, liability, credit and surety bond, accidents and health, energy and aerospace, and agricultural insurance.

Fubon Financial Holdings Co Ltd is a full-service financial holding company. Along with its subsidiaries, the company operates in the following reportable segments: Bank business, Insurance business, Life insurance business, Securities business, and Others. It generates maximum revenue from the Life Insurance business segment, which provides a variety of life and property insurance services. In addition to its reportable businesses, the group is also engaged in financial holding, venture capital, and asset management businesses. Geographically, it generates maximum revenue from Taiwan, followed by other Asian regions, and other markets.

American International Group is one of the largest insurance and financial services firms in the world and has a global footprint. It operates through a wide range of subsidiaries that provide property, casualty, and life insurance. The company recently spun off its life insurance operations (Corebridge), but still retains a minority stake.

Originally established in 1848 as the Prudential Mutual Assurance, Investment, and Loan Association, Prudential has changed a lot since then. Set up to sell life insurance and loans to the middle class, the company subsequently diversified into Europe and then North America with the purchase of Jackson National Life around 1985. During its time as owner of Jackson, Prudential focused on building a simple chassis-style product portfolio that allowed customers to choose from a variety of add-ons. The company also became renowned for its focus on building the internal capabilities required to support its strong product offerings, including compelling technology and a large, well-trained wholesale salesforce.

Sun Life Financial is one of the Big Three Canadian life insurers. The Canadian business contributed around 38% of adjusted earnings. In that segment, the firm provides health, life insurance, and annuity products to individual and group customers. Its US business is mostly group health and contributed about 20% of the firm's adjusted earnings in 2024. Sun Life also offers life insurance and wealth products in several Asian markets with a strong presence in Hong Kong and the Philippines. The Asia segment contributed around 18% of adjusted 2024 earnings. Its asset management business had around CAD 1.1 trillion total assets under management or administration at the end of 2024 and represents around 34% of the firm's earnings.

Cathay Financial Holding Co Ltd is a financial holding company. Along with its subsidiaries, it offers a broad range of life insurance, banking, and property and casualty insurance products to individual and corporate customers in Taiwan. The group has five reportable operating segments: Banking operating segment, Life insurance operating segment, Property insurance operating segment, Securities operating segment, and Other operating segment. A majority of its revenue is generated from the Life insurance segment, which is engaged in offering traditional insurance, investment-linked insurance, and interest-sensitive annuity insurance. In addition, this segment also provides financial planning services and policy loan services. Geographically, it derives key revenue from Taiwan.

MS&AD is Japan’s second-biggest nonlife insurer, trailing industry leader Tokio Marine in the scale of global operations although not in Japan. Like Tokio Marine and Sompo, MS&AD has grown into a second-tier presence in the domestic life insurance market since life and non-life insurance were mutually deregulated in 1996. Overseas, it is less focused on the US market than its two Japanese rivals and more focused on emerging Asia, but its acquisition of Lloyd’s syndicate Amlin in 2017 increased its exposure to the European and North American markets. MS&AD has historical business connections with the Mitsui and Sumitomo groups (the "MS" in the company name) and has a long-term partnership with Toyota Motor that is advantageous in acquiring auto insurance customers.

Power Corp. of Canada is a holding company with controlling interests in Great-West Lifeco (one of the big three Canadian life insurers), IGM Financial (Canada's largest nonbank asset manager), and other alternative asset management platforms (Sagard and Power Sustainable). The company also has minority interests in Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, a holding company with interests in European firms.

Samsung Life Insurance Co Ltd is engaged in the life insurance business. It provides a broad mix of insurance, savings and financial services. Its offerings include life, health and pension insurance, along with property-related coverage. It also extends credit and mortgage loans, retirement products, trust services and investment management solutions. These services support customers in protecting their finances and planning for long-term growth across life, health, assets and retirement needs.

The Hartford Insurance Group Inc. provides property and casualty insurance, group benefits, and mutual funds. The company is widely recognized for its service excellence, sustainability practices, trust, and integrity. The Company currently conducts business principally in five reportable segments, including Business Insurance, Personal Insurance, Property & Casualty Other Operations, Employee Benefits, and Hartford Funds, as well as a Corporate category. The company generates a majority of its revenue from Business Insurance.

Prudential Financial is one of the largest US life insurers, offering annuities, life insurance, and asset-management products. The United States and Japan are its two largest markets. Its US business contributed about 50% of adjusted 2024 earnings and includes institutional retirement (mostly pension risk transfer), individual retirement (annuities), group insurance, and individual life insurance. Its international business represented about 40% of adjusted earnings, with a strong market position in Japan, and the firm also has a presence in emerging markets like Brazil. The company's investment management business, PGIM, contributed approximately 10% of its 2024 adjusted earnings. PGIM had around $1.4 trillion in assets under management at the end of third-quarter 2025.

Fairfax Financial Holdings provides reinsurance and property and casualty insurance in Canada, the United States, and other international markets. The company also has some noninsurance operations such as restaurants. Fairfax has been led by Prem Watsa, its chair and CEO, since its formation in 1985.

Dai-ichi Life is Japan's second-largest life insurer (excluding the recently privatized Japan Post Insurance), commanding 11% of annualized net premiums. Unlike its largest domestic rivals-Nippon Life, Meiji Yasuda, and Sumitomo Life-which remain mutually owned by policyholders, Dai-ichi Life demutualized and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2010. The group's profit profile is geographically diversified: its main domestic operating company contributes roughly 60% of profits; Frontier, its bancassurance subsidiary focused on savings products, adds around 10%; Protective Life (based in Alabama) accounts for about 15%; TAL in Australia contributes 7%; and Dai-ichi Life Vietnam generates about 5%. Additionally, the group holds a 30% economic interest in Mizuho's Asset Management One.

Humana is one of the largest private health insurers in the US, and the firm has built a niche specializing in government-sponsored programs, with nearly all its medical membership stemming from Medicare, Medicaid, and the military's Tricare program. Beyond medical insurance, the company provides other healthcare services, including primary-care services, at-home services, and pharmacy benefit management.

Intact Financial Corp is a property and casualty insurance company that provides written premiums in Canada. The company distributes insurance under the Intact Insurance brand through a network of brokers and a wholly-owned subsidiary, BrokerLink, and directly to consumers through Belairdirect. The majority of the company's direct premiums are written in the personal automotive space. Intact directly manages its investments through its subsidiary Intact Investment Management. The vast majority of these invested assets are fixed-income securities. Its asset mix is designed to generate interest and dividend income. The company has three reportable segments Canada, UK & International, and U.S.

Sompo Holdings was formed in 2010 through the merger of Sompo Japan and Nipponkoa Insurance. The Sompo brand—meaning "nonlife insurance" in Japanese—dates to 2001, when Yasuda Fire, Nissan Fire, and Taisei Fire combined. Sompo has around a 26% market share of nonlife insurance premiums in Japan, compared with around 29% and 33% for larger rivals Tokio Marine and MS&AD.

Arch Capital Group Ltd is a Bermuda company that writes insurance and reinsurance with operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and the United Kingdom. The business operates through three underwriting segments: insurance, reinsurance, and mortgage. The insurance segment provides specialty risk solutions to clients across various industries. The reinsurance segment provides reinsurance services which cover property catastrophe, property, liability, marine, aviation and space, trade credit and surety, agriculture, accident, life and health, and political risk. The mortgage business provides risk management and risk financing products to the mortgage insurance sectors through platforms in the U.S., Europe and Bermuda.

Talanx is the third largest insurer in Germany. It sells insurance to businesses, individuals, and reinsurers other insurers. The origins of Talanx go back to the early 1900s and the founding of two mutuals in Germany, HDI and FSV, that were set up to provide liability insurance to the German iron and steel industry, and fire insurance to the German mining industry as a result of a growing dissatisfaction with providers of insurance. These two mutuals merged to form Halfplichtverband der Deutschen Industrie, or HDI, in 1970. Over the years companies outside of metals and mining have joined the mutual. HDI started providing reinsurance services in the mid-1920s, and individual insurance in the 1950s. HDI owns just over three-quarters of the Talanx share capital.

Swiss Life is predominantly a life and long-term savings company that generates the main share of its revenue and earnings from its domestic market of Switzerland. The company also operates in France, Germany, and a few smaller but wealthy European countries. The company has an asset manager as well. Swiss Life has three main sources of income that vary in significance by geography. Savings income relates to spread-based earnings, the risk result relates to an insurance margin, and the fee result relates to asset management and financial advisory. The fee result has been growing in importance over recent years as a result of advice, asset management, and unit-linked sales.

Sampo is a leading Nordics-based insurer headquartered in Finland and listed in Helsinki. The company has operations in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Lithuania, Latvia, and the United Kingdom. Sampo has four subsidiaries that mainly sell private insurance to retail customers. If is the largest property and casualty insurer in the Nordics. Headquartered in Sweden, and If also sells insurance in Denmark, Norway, and Finland. Topdanmark is a Danish property and casualty insurer focusing on personal lines insurance as well as agriculture and small and medium-size enterprises. Topdanmark has been rolled into the Nordics and Hastings is a digital insurer that focuses on car, van, bike, and home insurance in the UK.

Centene is a managed care organization that focuses on government-sponsored healthcare plans, including Medicaid, Medicare, and the individual exchanges. Centene served 22 million medical members as of December 2024, mostly in Medicaid (about 60% of membership), the individual exchanges (about 20%), and Medicare (about 5%). The company also has a military contract and provides Medicare Part D pharmaceutical plans.

New China Life Insurance is headquartered in Beijing and was established in 1996 by a combination of state-owned enterprises and private firms. It is currently the fourth-largest life insurer in China based on total assets. The company is partly owned by Huijin Investment, the government’s investment arm, which holds a 31% stake in New China Life. In 2011, the company was listed on both the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges.New China Life offers a wide range of life insurance products and services to both individual and institutional customers through its extensive distribution networks and diverse marketing channels. Additionally, it manages and invests insurance funds through its subsidiaries, including its Asset Management Company and Asset Management Company (Hong Kong).

Helvetia Baloise Holding AG is a multi-line insurance company. The company provides pension, specialty insurance and reinsurance services, and other financial solutions.

Aviva is a multiline insurer listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company traces its roots back to the 17th century with the establishment of Hand in Hand. After the Great Fire of London, this mutual was formed to provide protection against fires. Hand in Hand was then acquired by Commercial Union in 1905. Over the years, Hand in Hand insured London landmarks such as London Bridge, the British Museum, and Lambeth Palace. The life insurance part of Aviva began in the early part of the 18th century with the establishment of Amicable, also a mutual, but this time to protect widows and children against loss of life and loss of income.