Everest Re Group Ltd. is set to hit itself with a $311 million pre-tax charge in the fourth quarter for potential asbestos exposures in a bid to strengthen its reserves.

Craig Eisenacher, Everest's chief financial officer said: "In as much as we had previously announced that we would be conducting an in-depth review of our potential asbestos exposures, we believe that early disclosure of the outcome of the review in the context of our expected operating results is helpful to our investors and potential investors."

Everest, which expects to announce its fourth-quarter and year-end results on January 30, estimated that its net income for the last three months of last year would be between $4 million and $24 million.

Net income for the full year, including after-tax net realised capital gains of $62 million or $.98 per fully diluted share, is expected to range between $831 million and $851 million, which would be between $13.06 and $13.37 per fully diluted share.

Management expects after-tax operating income to range between $55 million and $75 million for the quarter and between $769 million and $789 million for the 12 months ended December 31, 2007.

For the year ended December 31, 2006, after-tax operating income was $817.9 million or $12.52 per fully diluted share.