Willis Corroon Group Plc's 50 percent stake in Heddington Brokers Ltd. (HBL) for $10.1 million. The deal was closed Wednesday afternoon.

President and CEO of both Heddington Insurance and HBL, Ms Jennifer Cartmell, said that there will be no effect on the Bermuda office.

"We view this as a natural evolution of the relationship, almost since inception, of Heddington Brokers,'' she said. "At Heddington Insurance and Heddington Brokers, we don't expect any changes at all.'' Heddington Insurance, the wholly-owned subsidiary of US oil giant Texaco Inc.

now owns HBL in its entirety. HBL primarily handles reinsurance for Heddington out of the Hamilton office of 10 people.

Heddington Brokers, located in the Perry Building on Church Street, was half-owned by Willis Faber AG of Zurich, a subsidiary of Willis Corroon, and half-owned by Heddington Insurance Ltd.

Willis Corroon has also bought HBL's 49 percent interest in Willis Corroon Heddington Ltd. for $68,600 cash. Willis Corroon Heddington is a UK broker which places business arising from Heddington.

Proceeds from the sale will be used to repay debt and for general corporate purposes, according to a Willis Corroon statement.

In 1994, Willis Corroon's stake in HBL contributed $4.8 million toward the company's pretax profit before items of $84.4 million. In the same year, Willis Corroon Heddington added $190,000 to Willis Corroon's pretax profit.

MRM ACQUIRES PROFESSIONAL UNDERWRITERS BUC MRM acquires Professional Underwriters Bermuda-based Mutual Risk Management Ltd. (MRM) yesterday announced it had reached an agreement to acquire Professional Underwriters Corp., an underwriting manager located in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

Professional Underwriters specialises in underwriting and managing "programme business'' for a number of insurance companies including MRM's subsidiary, Legion Insurance Co., said Bloomberg Business News service. The acquisition is expected to be completed in January.