Exhibit 99.1

                 Transatlantic Holdings, Inc. Elects
               Mr. Richard Press to Board of Directors

    NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 2, 2006--Transatlantic Holdings,
Inc. (NYSE:TRH) is pleased to announce that Mr. Richard S. Press has
been elected to its Board of Directors.
    Mr. Press recently retired from the Wellington Management Company,
LLP, where he was a Senior Vice President and Director of its
Insurance Asset Management Group. Prior to his twelve years of service
at Wellington Management, Mr. Press served in executive capacities at
Stein Roe & Farnham, where he established its Insurance Asset
Management Group, and Scudder, Stevens & Clark, where he helped found
Scudder's insurance asset management subsidiary.
    "We are pleased that Dick Press has agreed to join our Board,"
commented Martin J. Sullivan, Transatlantic's Chairman. "With more
than four decades of asset management experience, Dick brings to
Transatlantic an in-depth knowledge of insurance company needs along
with a robust business and financial perspective. We welcome him to
Transatlantic and look forward to benefiting from his good counsel."
    Mr. Press holds a BA degree in Economics from Brown University and
an MBA degree, with a concentration in Finance, from Harvard Business
School.
    Transatlantic Holdings, Inc. (TRH) is a leading international
reinsurance organization headquartered in New York, with operations
also based in Chicago, San Francisco, Kansas City, Toronto, Miami
(serving Latin America and the Caribbean), Buenos Aires, Rio de
Janeiro, London, Paris, Zurich, Warsaw, Johannesburg, Hong Kong,
Shanghai, Tokyo and Sydney. Its subsidiaries, Transatlantic
Reinsurance Company, Trans Re Zurich and Putnam Reinsurance Company,
offer reinsurance capacity on both a treaty and facultative basis --
structuring programs for a full range of property and casualty
products, with an emphasis on specialty risks.

    Visit www.transre.com for additional information about TRH.

    CONTACT: Transatlantic Holdings, Inc., New York
             Steven S. Skalicky, 212-770-2040