NEW YORK (Bloomberg) ? Billionaire financier Wilbur Ross may boost his $100 million investment in Bermuda-based Montpelier Re Holdings Ltd. as demand for reinsurance increases following a record 2005 hurricane season.

"For us, $100 million is not such a big investment," Ross, chairman of New York-based WL Ross & Co., said in an interview on Tuesday. "We would have appetite for more with Montpelier or perhaps with some other very good reinsurance companies."

Ross, known for buying assets of distressed companies, expects reinsurers' profits to swell as prices rise in the wake of a record $52.7 billion in 2005 hurricane claims. Ross announced his $100 million investment May 25, sending the stock up six percent.

"Premiums have gone up enormously," he said. "The prices of the products are now proper even if there is greater severity and greater frequency of hurricanes, as many people forecast."

Montpelier reported a net loss of $875 million for the third quarter of 2005 after storms including Hurricane Katrina devastated the US Gulf Coast. The company's shares have fallen 55 percent since the August 29 storm.

Shares of the reinsurer rose 17 cents to $15.38 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday.

Montpelier said Ross's firm would buy 6.9 million shares at $14.50 a piece, starting on or about June 1. Ross, 68, plans to join Montpelier's board after completing the share purchase.