AlphaCat Managers Ltd. (“AlphaCat”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Validus Holdings, Ltd. (“Validus”) today announced the appointment of Bernard Van der Stichele to the position of Portfolio Manager for AlphaCat. In this new role, Bernard will report to Lixin Zeng, Chief Executive Officer of AlphaCat.

Bernard Van der Stichele brings over 15 year of institutional investment management experience to AlphaCat. Previously, he served as Vice President at AQR Capital Management. Prior to that, he was a Senior Investment Analyst at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, where he developed its first direct ILS investment strategy.

Lixin Zeng, Chief Executive Officer of AlphaCat stated: “We are delighted to welcome Bernard to the AlphaCat team. With his impressive track-record and extensive knowledge of insurance-linked securities and reinsurance asset classes, we are confident that he will add tremendous value to AlphaCat.”

Bernard’s appointment is subject to Bermuda immigration approval.

Separately, Chris Silvester, Validus Services’ Executive Vice President and Head of U.S. Property Underwriting, will assume primary responsibility for AlphaCat’s reinsurance business origination, in addition to his role as head of Validus Services’ U.S. Property Team. Chris will continue to report to Validus Services’ Executive Vice President and Chief Underwriting Officer Jeff Clements. Jeff Clements stated: “As a proven business development leader, we look forward to having Chris further strengthen our offerings.”

About AlphaCat Managers Ltd.

AlphaCat Managers Ltd. (“AlphaCat”) is a Bermuda based investment adviser managing capital for third parties and the Group in insurance linked securities and other property catastrophe reinsurance investments.

About Validus Holdings, Ltd.

Validus Holdings, Ltd. (“Validus”) is a holding company for reinsurance and insurance operating companies and investment advisors including Validus Reinsurance, Ltd. (“Validus Re”), Talbot Underwriting Ltd. (“Talbot”), Western World Insurance Group, Inc. (“Western World”) and AlphaCat Managers, Ltd. (“AlphaCat”).

Validus Re is a global reinsurance group focused primarily on treaty reinsurance. Talbot is a specialty insurance group primarily operating within the Lloyd's insurance market through Syndicate 1183. Western World is a U.S. specialty lines insurance group focused on excess and surplus lines. AlphaCat is a Bermuda based investment advisor managing capital for third parties and Validus in insurance linked securities and other property catastrophe and specialty reinsurance investments.