The Validus Group traces its beginnings back to October 19, 2005 - the date when Validus Holdings, Ltd. was incorporated under the laws of Bermuda. Validus Holdings was launched in response to the favourable market conditions and demand for capacity that resulted from the large insured losses incurred in 2004 and 2005.

Validus Reinsurance, Ltd. ("Validus Re"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Validus Holdings, was formed shortly afterwards with an unencumbered capital base of approximately $1 billion and began writing property catastrophe, per risk, marine and energy, retrocession and other specialty short-tail lines of business. Guided by experienced management and backed by an impressive team of underwriters, actuaries and catastrophe modellers, Validus Re earned an A.M. Best rating of A- (Excellent) and quickly established itself as a market leader.

As part of its bid to achieve greater diversification in its geographic reach and underwriting capacity, in July 2007, Validus Holdings acquired Talbot Holdings Ltd., the Bermudian parent of the specialty insurance group operating within the Lloyd's of London Insurance Market through Syndicate 1183 and Underwriting Risk Services Ltd. This acquisition gave Validus access to the lucrative Lloyd's insurance market and provided a strategic complement to Validus Re's business.

Since then, Validus has continued to expand and develop its reinsurance and insurance businesses worldwide, opening offices in Italy, Miami, Singapore, New York, Dubai and Chile.
In September 2009 Validus completed a significant strategic acquisition with the amalgamation of IPC Holdings, Ltd.  The capital base, which was $1 billion at the beginning of 2006, now stands at $4 billion.

As a result of this approach, Validus is poised for continued growth and is well positioned to capitalize on future opportunities as they arise.