giant, Aon Corporation, to acquire the privately held Bermuda-based company International Risk Management Group Ltd. (IMRG). The merger will result in one of the largest captive management operations in the world.

Aon yesterday revealed that it had entered an agreement to buy out IMRG for an undisclosed amount.

Swiss Re Group is the majority shareholder of IMRG and owns 70 percent of the business. A release from the companies said that Swiss Re's decision to divest "results from its global strategy to focus on core risk financing activities''. The Aon Corporation is a holding company for a group of companies that focus on insurance broking, consulting and underwriting. The publicly held company is listed on the Chicago, Frankfurt, London and New York stock exchanges.

The buy out would see IMRG merged with Aon's captive management operation, Aon Insurance Managers (AIM). The combined unit will be re-named Aon International Risk Management Group (AIRMG) and will be headed by Philip Stamp as chairman and chief executive officer.

It is anticipated that the deal will be completed before the end of the year.

The newly formed AIRMG will be one of the world's largest captive management and captive consulting operations with more than 750 clients, 400 staff and offices in all of the major captive locations.

"Our enhanced consulting capabilities will enable us to provide better services to existing clients, while being a part of the Aon family allows our clients to call on the expertise of more than 40,000 colleagues as the need arises,'' said Mr. Stamp.

Styeven Cross, director of IRMG's global captive operations, said that the company's management team were "extremely comfortable with the way that Aon's captive management group operates as an autonomous business unit within Aon''.