(Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Minnesota ) - A proposed initial public offering by Bermuda-based Platinum Underwriters Holding Ltd. will close on June 27. Platinum is the result of a spin-off of the reinsurance unit of The St. Paul Cos.

Yesterday it emerged that The St. Paul Cos. is giving its unprofitable Lloyd's operation four more months to shape up.

"If we cannot develop a strategy that will be profitable by the end of September, we will exit Lloyd's," The St. Paul's chief executive, Jay Fishman, said at an industry conference in New York.

Its operations at Lloyd's posted a pre-tax insurance loss of $39 million in the first quarter. The company's first-quarter insurance premiums from Lloyd's fell 30 percent to $68 million, accounting for 3.2 percent of all premiums, down from 5.3 percent a year earlier. The St. Paul-based commercial insurer was one of the first and largest corporate investors in Lloyd's of London, an insurance syndicate with licenses in almost every country in the world.

But in the past several months, The St. Paul has tapered its Lloyd's business to only four insurance lines: aviation, marine, non-North American property and some personal lines in the United Kingdom. The reduction at Lloyd's is part of Fishman's strategy to make The St. Paul a smaller, more profitable company with less risk.

He also is taking the insurer out of the medical malpractice business and spinning off its reinsurance unit, which provides insurance for insurers, into a separate Bermuda-based company called Platinum Underwriters Holding Ltd. Platinum's planned initial public offering is expected to close on June 27, Fishman said. Platinum plans to sell 40 million shares of its common stock to the public for $23 to $26 apiece, or about $1 billion.