Claims for cancelled UK Michael Jackson concerts could cost industry up to £300million

Sources this morning told Reinsurance that Bermudian (re)insurer Validus' Lloyds of London Talbot Syndicate is widely rumoured to have underwritten a significant proportion of the cover for the concerts. They were unable to comment.

Sources also claimed that Brit will be left with part of the bill but Brit were unable to confirm or deny this.

Back in March, insurance sources told Reinsurance that the appetite to cover the risk was low after the tour was extended, because of worries over Jackson's health which now appear to be well justified. Although organiser AEG said at the time that it had managed to secure cover for the first 10 concerts- reportedly worth about £80m, the rest of the dates- which reportedly would have bought the cover to over £300m, had, according to sources at the time, not gained the same sort of traction in the market.

Sources also told Reinsurance that Robertson Taylor, the specialist music and entertainment arm of Oxygen Insurance Brokers, is the broker for Michael Jackson's UK concerts that were due to take place in London later this year.

However, it is believed by many today that the claims may not be as high as originally believed as cover had only been secured for the event of ticket refunds, not for profits. According to sources current estimates for claims stand at arround £100m.

A Lloyd's spokesman said: "We can confirm that some insurance for Michael Jackson's concerts has been placed in the Lloyd's market, but any losses are not likely to be significant."

Robertson Taylor was unable to confirm of deny the rumours today due to confidentiality issues.

According to sources within Lloyd's, Michael Jackson was also ironically due for a physical today in an attempt to secure life insurance cover.