company, raised $256.2 million in an initial stock sale yesterday.

The Bermuda-based company sold 17.1 million shares at $15 each. That was the expected price set by Prudential Securities Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co., the joint lead underwriters.

Annuity & Life also sold about 5.9 million directly to an investment group consisting of the Prudential Insurance Company of America, Bermuda-based EXEL Ltd., Risk Capital Reinsurance Company, Insurance Partners LP and Insurance Partners Offshore (Bermuda) LP. This sale raised about $79.5 million.

Annuity & Life and its operating subisidiary Annuity & Ressurance Ltd., were formed on December 2 to sell low-cost reinsurance. Annuity & Life said it expects to benefit from the absence of corporate tax in Bermuda.

The company will contribute most of its net proceeds from both sales to Annuity & Reassurance to support its reinsurance underwriting capacity.

Lawrence Doyle, former chief executive of GCR Holdings Ltd. -- which was bought last year last May by EXEL -- will be chief executive of Annuity & Life.

Annuity & Life said it aims to capitalise on the growth potential of the annuity and life reinsurance market, which it said represents an attractive opportunity because of the large potential size of the market coupled with the limited number of companies selling such reinsurance on a third party basis.

It will trade on the NASDAQ stock market under the ticker symbol "ALREF''. -- Bloomberg