Underwriting Agencies, will provide capacity to a Lloyd's of London syndicate, it was revealed.

The syndicate, 1207, managed by Venton and underwritten by Alec Sharp for the 1996 year of account, specialises in financial institutions, directors and officers, errors and omissions and other liability and property business.

"Basically it is a spreading of the load and is a way forward with Lloyd's in the post reconstruction & renewal era,'' Venton managing director Martin Slade said. "We have put the deal together reasonably quickly. We hope it will be the start of a longer relationship.

"Generally the market had felt that three Bermuda companies were looking for alliances in the London Market and these were ACE Ltd., Mid Ocean Ltd. and EXEL Ltd.'' Earlier, ACE and Mid Ocean acquired Lloyd's managing agencies.

ACE bought Methuen Group Ltd., the holding company of Methuen Underwriting Ltd., and Ockham Worldwide Holdings Plc. Mid Ocean took a 51 percent stake in Brockbank Group Plc with an option to acquire the remaining 49 percent this year.