Specialty re/insurer Argo Group officially opened its corporate headquarters and launched a complete rebranding strategy at Argo House yesterday.

The company, which is based in Pitts Bay Road and is an international underwriter of specialty re/insurance products in the property and casualty market, marked its opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Premier Ewart Brown.

And simultaneously Argo, which was formerly based in San Antonio, Texas, and marketed as Argonaut Group, before setting up in business in August last year following Argonaut's merger with PXRE, has introduced a new brand identity called 'Fresh Sails'. It has created a new logo and graphic design system to reflect its history and boost its growth and development.

Meanwhile, the company's opening and rebranding ties in with the acquisition of Lloyd's of London firm Heritage Underwriting Agency plc. for £136 million ($269.7 million), with the bid valuing Heritage at 1.8 times its 2007 tangible book value, according to UBS. It follows a number of approaches from interested parties, while previous bid talks with Bermuda-based insurer Ironshore had broken down, with Ironshore CEO Robert Deutsch telling The Royal Gazette that the asking price had been too high.

Argo's CEO Mark Watson III believes that Heritage is a "good fit" strategically and the company is getting it for a good price, while he added that acquisitions are a key part to Argo's overall strategy.

"The Argo Group represents the transformation of the Argonaut Group into an international specialty underwriter," said Mr. Watson. "Our rebranding of the company became simultaneous with the acquisition of Heritage.

"I think a lot of people will think of today as somewhat of a renaming exercise — we have been using the name Argo for a year and really if you look at how we project ourselves into the market place, this has been an evolution and this rebranding has been a reflection of that.

"It was important that everyone recognised that our Bermuda operation was a part of the group and so by rebranding with the group name we thought that we would get more brand value out of that."

Argo's Bermuda operation is split into an underwriting side and a corporate side. The former has been underwriting risks on a world-wide basis, primarily in property and catastrophe lines, since the start of this year, while the latter deals with the company's financial affairs.

There are 25 employees based on the Island out of a 1,200 strong staff globally, mainly in the US, with a further 100-plus working for Heritage.

"As we continue growing our Bermuda underwriting platform and now with the addition of Heritage, I expect we will be adding a few more corporate people here in Bermuda," said Mr. Watson.

"A significant number of underwriters in our industry are headquartered here in Bermuda.

"Most of them are our trading partners and it is much easier and more effective to do business with your partners when they are down the street.

"With what will now be a significant presence in the London market place (through Heritage), being in Bermuda allows us to be half-way between out two underwriting platforms in the US and the UK."

Plans are now afoot to set up the Argo Foundation, a non-profit organisation which supports initiatives in the local community.