The announcement on Friday that Bermuda insurer AXIS Speciality Limited had bought up Sheffield Insurance Corporation and taken on 80 new staff from insurance broker Aon has, virtually overnight, made the new kid on the block a major insurance player.

Although Sheffield is a so-called "shell" company, its purchase - for an undisclosed amount - was a strategic move for AXIS as Sheffield holds licenses for writing insurance in a number of states. The net result is AXIS has, at a rapid pace, broadened its reach into the American market, CFO Andrew Cook told The Royal Gazette on Friday.

AXIS incorporated on the Island in November, 2001 as one of a wave of new insurance and reinsurance companies setting up on the Island in the wake of a void in capacity after the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Along with the purchase of Sheffield, AXIS also took on 80 staff from Aon subsidiary Combined Speciality Group as the broker winds down its insurance underwriting business.

Mr. Cook said essentially AXIS had, through the transactions, got a US infrastructure that would allow the company to take immediate advantage of "huge market opportunities".

"This accelerates our set-up of our US operations," he added.

AXIS had already, in recent months, set up a European office in Dublin as well as in New York and Connecticut but its US insurance operation - AXIS Speciality Insurance Company - will now be headquartered in Atlanta and through the Aon deal will also have offices in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Leading the new team - which Mr. Cook said includes insurance specialists and corporate resources, such as legal, IT and human resources staff - will be Dennis Reding as president and CEO of AXIS Speciality Insurance Company.

Mr. Reding was most recently CEO of Aon's Combined Speciality Group and prior to that was president of ACE, INA and president and CEO of ACE, USA.

This brings the company, in the space of a year, from zero to more than a hundred and it would appear that things are moving more quickly than management first expected.

In a December, 2001 interview CEO John Charman had said the company, which had ten staff at the time, could have up to 30 employees "within a few years". But the Aon deal means the company has more than tripled that original estimate, and in less than a year.

The transaction with Aon was said to be subject to regulatory approval.

John R. Charman, President and CEO of AXIS Speciality Limited said, "We are delighted that Dennis and his team have chosen to join us at AXIS. We are fortunate to have someone of Dennis' reputation and expertise in the industry available to take on the leadership of our Speciality Insurance business here in the US and we welcome him to our senior management team."