The public will soon get "access" to a share in the AXIS insurance group.

In a welcome piece of news for IPO-deprived markets, AXIS has become the second Bermuda-based insurance group to buck the trend and apply for an initial public offering this year.

Andrew Cook, CFO of AXIS Capital Holdings Limited. (AXIS) confirmed yesterday the company has filed its S1 registration with the Securities Exchange Commission for an inital public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AXS.

AXIS is the holding company for the group which includes AXIS Specialty Limite, among others. Morgan Stanley and Salomon Smith Barney are joint lead book runners for the offering which is seeking to raise $517,500,000.

AXIS will become the fourth post 9/11 Bermuda start-up to list on the New York Stock Exchange. In the past 12 months, Montpelier Re, Platinum Underwriting and most recently Endurance Specialty, have also gone the IPO route.

Last year was an infrastructure building year for AXIS. With the opening of their Dublin office and expansion into the US market by acquiring three US companies and licences in Connecticut and New York they can now be described as a truly global player.

The high point to the year, however, was the receipt by the operating companies of a Standard & Poor's "A" rating. The group covers two main sectors: specialty insurance and treaty reinsurance. Their specialty insurance segment includes specialty risks (including terrorism, marine and aviation war risk and political risk); onshore and offshore energy; aviation and aerospace; commercial property; and marine.

AXIS president and CEO John Charman made his name in the specialty risk area. He was one of a handful of underwriters in the London market who made a fortune writing marine casualty risk during the Gulf War.

The treaty reinsurance refers to reinsurance written in bulk rather than on a policy-by-policy basis. The underlying policies include: property; workers' compensation, personal accident and life; professional liability; casualty clash; marine and aviation.

Until 2001, John Charman had another Bermuda connection; the underwriting agency he formed, Tarquin PLC, was acquired by Bermuda-based ACE Ltd. Mr. Charman stayed on as chief executive officer of ACE's Lloyds operation but in March 2001 he parted company with ACE. Six months later, during the insurance shortage created by the World Trade Centre tragedy, Mr. Charman moved to Bermuda and with the backing of Marsh & McLennon and several other investors, launched AXIS.