Cologne Re pays US parent €114m

COLOGNE Reinsurance, a Dublin-based company at the centre of a worldwide investigation into fraudulent transactions, paid its US parent a dividend of $180 million (€114m) in 2007.

The payment is part of a distribution of its capital back to its US parent General Reinsurance, which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The conglomerate is owned by the world’s richest man, Warren Buffet.

Cologne Re and General Re have been part of a malpractice investigation by regulators in the US, Ireland, Britain, Australia and Germany.