"Collapsed Paris airport terminal could cost hundreds of millions/ reinsurers"

Wednesday, June 9, 2004

Collapsed Paris airport terminal could cost hundreds of millions/
reinsurers
Agence France-Presse


PARIS, (AFP) - The collapse last month of part of a modern terminal at
Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris could cost insurance companies
hundreds of millions of euros with the bulk of the bill picked up by the
reinsurance market, the association of French reinsurers, ARF, said
Wednesday.

"This will be a fairly complex incident that will probably have to be
evaluated at several hundred million euros," ARF president Thierry
Masquelier said during a media conference presenting his association's
accounts for 2003.

Four people, all passengers, died when part of the roof of Terminal 2E
at the airport collapsed May 23. The tubular structure had been built
less than a year ago at a cost of 750 million euros (920 million
dollars).

Masquelier said an exact figure would not be arrived at until
investigations into the cause of the accident and the extent of the
damage were completed. Initial results are expected to be known at the
end of this month.

Several insurance guarantees would be involved in the pay-out, with "the
largest share of the incident being taken care of by the reinsurance
community," he said.

AXA, the French insurance group which covered the companies that carried
out the construction, has said that it and partner Groupama had an
exposure of up to 200 million euros from the collapse, but that that
would be brought down to a net 10 million euros after the reinsurance
contracts came into play.

Munich Re, the world's biggest reinsurer, said last week it could pay
out "in the mid double-digit million euros range, depending on the cause
of the disaster".


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