Related-Party Transactions

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Related-Party Transactions [Abstract]

Related-Party Transactions

17.  RELATED-PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Parent

Group's Board of Directors approved an amended share repurchase program authorizing Group and/or its subsidiary Holdings to purchase Group's common shares through open market transactions, privately negotiated transactions or both.  The table below represents the amendments to the share repurchase program for the common shares approved for repurchase.

	Common Shares
	Authorized for
Amendment Date	Repurchase
(Dollars in thousands)
09/21/2004	$	5,000,000
07/21/2008		5,000,000
02/24/2010		5,000,000
02/22/2012		5,000,000
	$	20,000,000

As of December 31, 2011, Holdings held 9,719,971 common shares of Group, which it had purchased in the open market between February 1, 2007 and March 8, 2011.  The table below represents the total purchase price for these common shares purchased.

(Dollars in thousands)
Total purchase price	$	835,371

Holdings reports these purchases as other invested assets, fair value, in the consolidated balance sheets with changes in fair value re-measurement recorded in net realized capital gains (losses) in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss).  The following table presents the dividends received on these common shares that are reported as net investment income in the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss) for the period indicated.

	Years Ended December 31,
(Dollars in thousands)	2011		2010		2009
Dividends received	$	18,645	$	14,029	$	7,987

Affiliated Companies

During the fourth quarter of 2011, the Company sold its subsidiaries, Everest Canada and Premiere, to an affiliated company, Holdings Ireland.  Holdings Ireland is a direct subsidiary of Group, the Company's ultimate parent.  The Company sold the subsidiaries to Holdings Ireland for $61,005 thousand, which was the book value of the subsidiaries as of September 30, 2011.

Everest Global Services, Inc. ("Global Services"), an affiliate of Holdings, provides centralized management and home office services, through a management agreement, to Holdings and other affiliated companies within Holdings' consolidated structure.  Services provided by Everest Global include executive managerial services, legal services, actuarial services, accounting services, information technology services and others.

The following table presents the expenses incurred by Holdings from services provided by Everest Global for the periods indicated.

	Years Ended December 31,
(Dollars in thousands)	2011		2010		2009
Expenses incurred	$	61,108	$	62,740	$	53,015

Outside Directors

During the normal course of business, the Company, through its affiliates, engages in insurance and brokerage and commission business transactions, with companies controlled by or affiliated with one or more of its outside directors.  Such transactions, individually and in the aggregate, are not material to the Company's financial condition, results of operation and cash flows.  See also Note 12.