By Mia MacGregor

April 23 - (The Insurer) - Former Axis Re CEO Steve Arora has announced that Alpine Re, a planned $1 billion Switzerland-based multi-line P&C reinsurer, has been shelved due to insufficient investor appetite.

“We set out to build something bold — and despite a solid plan, a killer team, and getting very close, investor appetite just wasn’t there to get it over the line,” Arora wrote in a LinkedIn post.

“So, we’ve made the call to conclude Alpine Re. A hard decision — but also a real sense of satisfaction in how far we took it.”

As previously reported, Arora and former Hannover Re CEO Willy Zeller were initially in the process of raising funds to launch Alpine Re in September 2023, targeting what was viewed at the time to be a market opportunity that included generational attractive underlying insurance conditions, dislocation in reinsurance supply and demand along with high interest rates.

The Insurer reported at Monte Carlo in 2023 that Alpine Re was looking to build a lean operation with a low-cost model and an emphasis on disciplined underwriting as a “traditional” reinsurer.

Sources had previously indicated last September that a difficult fundraising environment had posed challenges to a 2024 launch, though the startup was said to be making significant progress toward a potential 2025 debut.

Alpine Re had been working with Howden Capital Markets & Advisory and was expected to have a casualty and specialty reinsurance-focused strategy with operations in Switzerland and Bermuda. The proposed startup had also lined up other members of its potential management team.

The move to call time on the proposed startup comes amid what are viewed as stable market conditions in P&C reinsurance so far in 2025, including moderate softening in property after the major shift in the market two years ago that included significant rate increases and a market-wide step up in retentions.

Arora did not immediately respond to a request for comment.