, is a new $1 billion reinsurer being formed by Amlin, one of the largest UK-listed Lloyd?s insurers. The group?s Bermuda entity was licensed and incorporated on 24 October.

Amlin?s underwriting team is being headed by underwriting director John Andrews, a veteran of the London market who sits on several Lloyd?s committees. Mr. Andrews is also being joined by Ben Savill, who has been working for Amlin US and assistant underwriters Lisa O?Toole and Sophie Chapman. Work permits have been applied for but are pending, the company said in a statement on its website.

The company plans to be up and running with its new Bermuda unit by early December, in time to sell policies by the January 1 renewal period. The initial phase of the new business is being overseen by Amlin operations director David Harris, and the company?s chief executive Charles Philipps is also due to visit the Island before the new office is launched. Amlin Bermuda plans to initially sell excess of loss reinsurance, and will later add proportional treaty to the new unit?s offerings.

is owned by investment firm Goldman Sachs Group, and is an addition to Arrow Re, a property casualty insurer already established on the Island. Arrow was licensed and incorporated as a Bermuda company on 24 October. Kymn Astwood, who was formerly the Bermuda Registrar of Companies, is understood to be heading the new venture. Goldman Sachs press office in New York declined to supply more information on the company at this time.

is being set up by former ACE executive Don Kramer and investors.

The company, which is raising $1 billion in initial capital, may have got a head start on some of the other companies by reaching an agreement to take over the infrastructure of reinsurer Rosemont Re, a Bermuda company owned by troubled UK parent, Goshawk Insurance Holdings Plc., that is now effectively in run-off. Mr. Kramer is to be chairman and chief executive of Ariel, which is named after the sprite in William Shakespeare?s Bermuda-based epic, ?The Tempest?. Mr. Kramer set up Tempest Re, a company later bought by ACE, in 1993 after Hurricane Andrew. Tempest was focused on selling property-catastrophe policies while Ariel is to be a ?broadly diversified company? selling a range of reinsurance products. Under the arrangement with Rosemont, Ariel will take on Rosemont?s Queen Street, Hamilton office space, its modelling capabilities to help assess the risk of loss in each contract, and other technology infrastructure. Ariel will not have exposure to any business already written by Rosemont. About 20 Rosemont staff are joining Ariel including Russell Brooke and Jonathan Beck, who were formerly CEO and CFO. Also joining Ariel are George Rivas, who founded Tempest Re with Mr. Kramer and served as its chief operating officer. Mr. Rivas is to be a special advisor to Ariel. And Mark Herman, previously president of ACE Bermuda, is to become president of parent company, Ariel Re Holdings Ltd. Mr. Herman, a professional-liability specialist, is to help build Ariel into a diversified company selling numerous types of insurance policies. Ariel has been approved by the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

is being launched by Bermuda hedge fund management company West End Capital. West End partnered with Bermuda reinsurer Montpelier Re earlier this year to form $91 million Rockridge, a Cayman Islands reinsurer, but is setting up Flagstone as a stand-alone reinsurer. Plans are to capitalise Flagstone with between $750 million and $1 billion. It was incorporated as a Bermuda company earlier this month and is already licensed to sell reinsurance by the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

Flagstone?s business plan is largely to sell property-catastrophe reinsurance, and it could also sell a small percentage of short-tail casualty policies. Flagstone?s chief executive is to be David Brown, who is currently a principal of West End. Mr. Brown was previously chief executive of Centre Reinsurance, a Bermuda company now effectively closed that focused on selling finite reinsurance. Reports have indicated that Guy Swayne, most recently of ACE, is to be Flagstone?s Harbor Point Re is being formed by a group of investors led by private equity firm Trident III, L.P. and insurance giant Chubb Corporation. Trident III, which is managed by Stone Point Capital, was formerly the private equity arm of Marsh & McLennan and has a long history of investing in the reinsurance sector. Harbor Point is expected to have about $1.5 billion in initial capitalisation. The company has an agreement to take over Chubb?s reinsurance business from January 1. Liabilities from policies already sold will remain with Chubb, leaving Harbor Point with a clean balance sheet.

John Berger, a Chubb Re executive, is to be chief executive while Stephen Friedman, a senior advisor to Stone Point Capital, which manages Trident, is to be non-executive chairman. The company was incorporated and licensed as a Bermuda company on 25 October.

is being set up by UK specialty insurer Hiscox plc. The company is raising $500 million for its Bermuda company through a rights issue ? raising the equivalent of $297 million ? and the balance to be borrowed from banks. The Bermuda unit is to be headed by Robert Childs, 54, who is currently managing director of Hiscox Global Markets. And four underwriting and modelling staff will also be relocating from London to Bermuda. And job offers in the Bermuda market have been made.

The company, which expects to be up and running in the next few weeks, hopes to secure an A.M. Best rating by mid-December and is targeting an A- financial strength rating. Hiscox (Bermuda) has secured a one-year office lease in the IAS building on Church Street, and will continue to look for more permanent space. Hiscox has said it could redomicile its parent company to the Island eventually. Hiscox, a specialist international insurance group listed on the London Stock Exchange, was established in 1901. It has three main underwriting businesses ? Syndicate 33 at Lloyd?s, UK Retail and International Retail. Its Bermuda venture was incorporated and licensed on 21 October. Trident used to hold a stake in Hiscox but sold it to the Chubb Group in 1999. Chubb sold its 18.7 percent stake in Hiscox in April 2004.

is being formed by Richard Brindle and Capital Z Financial Services Partners, with the new company expected to start with about $1 billion in capital. Mr. Brindle is a former underwriter at Charman Underwriting Agencies, the company founded by John Charman, now chief executive of 2001 start-up Axis Capital Ltd. Lancashire?s business plan is to sell marine, energy and other short-tail risks, according to reports.

Lancashire was licensed and incorporated on 28 October, 2005.

is being formed by hedge fund company Citadel Investment Group Llc. Citadel set up its first Bermuda reinsurer, property-catastrophe focused CIG Re Ltd. in September 2004. New Castle is the first off the marks with a strong financial strength rating. The company has earned an A- (Excellent) financial strength rating, and will be capitalised with $500 million and plans to sell property-catastrophe reinsurance as well as workers comp catastrophe and terrorism reinsurance.

The company was given its Bermuda licence from the Bermuda Monetary Authority on November 1. Chris McKeown, formerly of ACE Tempest Re, is head of CIG Re and is also to lead New Castle.

an insurer in the Lloyd?s of London market, said it plans to raise 90 million pounds, the equivalent of $156.8 million, to set up its new Bermuda insurer as well as to support its existing Lloyd?s syndicate 958. The scope of the new Omega outfit is small in comparison to plans for at least seven other new highly-capitalised Bermuda insurance and reinsurance ventures, each with plans for initial capitalisation of between $500 million and $1.5 billion. Omega?s Bermuda unit is to be called Omega Specialty Insurance Company Ltd. It is not known if Omega has registered yet as a Bermuda company, nor if it has been licensed by the BMA.

is expected to start off with around 12 employees. And market sources said Validus, which was incorporated and licensed in Bermuda on October 19, was one of the first companies to scour the Bermuda?s tight commercial property market ? a move that paid off as it now has office space secured. The company is being formed by ousted Marsh & McLennan chief executive Jeffrey Greenberg and partners from Venturion, a private equity firm. Ed Noonan, former chief executive of American Re, is to be the company?s chairman and CEO and George Reeth, the former chairman of the North American reinsurance operations of Willis Re, has been named president. Validus is expected to have up to $1.5 billion in capital to sell short-tail policies. Mr. Greenberg and partners recently established a private equity firm Aquiline Partners. They are currently raising money for the fund, which is Validus? lead investor and sponsor.

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The principals behind a tenth licensed class four reinsurer have not yet made details of their plans public.