Stock Exchange yesterday, with its newly-issued shares closing at $28.625 -- up $1.125 or four percent on the $27.50 subscription price.

ACE shares opened strongly at $29 and peaked early at $29.125 before slipping back towards the close of trading.

Those investors who sold at the peak price received an immediate six percent ($1.125 a share) return on their investment.

The total number of shares in ACE which were traded yesterday was approximately 6.5 million.

ACE's public offering was considered to be a sure-fire winner by many analysts, although the initial performance of the stock is believed to have been adversely affected by the World Trade Center explosion, which is expected to impact ACE.

ACE is one of Bermuda's most successful international companies, reporting a profit of $39 million for the three months to December 31, 1992. The company provides high level liability insurance to a diverse group of the world's largest corporations.

The company's excess liability insurance, with limits of up to $200 million per occurrence/per year, covers liability for occurrences resulting in bodily injury, property damage or advertising liability.

Mr. Jeff Conyers, president of First Bermuda Securities, which underwrote a small part of the issue, said he was impressed with the performance and added that the gains were "not bad for a day's work''.

Someone who bought 1,000 shares in the offer for a total outlay of $27,500 would have made a profit of $1,625 if they sold at yesterday's peak price.

Mr. Conyers said Bermuda residents had applied to buy four million ACE shares from FBS, which was allocated just over 200,000 shares of the total offering of 13.6 million.

Everyone who applied to buy ACE shares from FBS received at least 100, with the largest filled order being for 5,000 shares, said Mr. Conyers. "We only got between one-third and 40 percent of what people asked for,'' he said.

"All things considered, we were able to fill most people's orders reasonably well.

"These things never work out perfectly for everyone but we feel really pleased with the way it's turned out.'' ACE shares have been distributed to a broad section of the community, with FBS opening up 200 new accounts as a result of the public offer, said Mr. Conyers.

"This will bring Bermudians much closer to the insurance industry,'' he added.

He paid tribute to ACE for doing everything it could to ensure that Bermudians benefited from the public offering.

"We're very pleased that ACE went to bat for Bermuda,'' he said. "It's very unusual for a company to work for its community as well as they did.'' Half of FBS' 200,000 allocation has been set for the new BDR Company being set up by Bermuda Commercial Bank, with the balance going to retail investors.

BDR, if it gets Ministry of Finance approval, will enable Bermuda residents to invest indirectly in ACE while avoiding exchange control restrictions.

BDR intends to issue notes which mirror the NYSE performance, including fluctuations of share prices and dividend payouts, of ACE shares.

Bermuda Commercial Bank hopes to get official approval to incorporate the new company today.

It was also disclosed yesterday that the Bank of Butterfield may set up its own version of the scheme.

A senior officer with the bank said: "We're studying it. I don't know when we will have a decision but certainly we will have a decision in due course.'' The purpose of incorporating a BDR-type company would not be to avoid exchange controls, he said.

Instead, its aim would be to boost the local exchange if such a company was able to list shares of foreign-owned companies like ACE on it.

Bermuda's big two banks had considered the idea before but had held off because of a possible conflict of interest, he said.

Since the banks help to collect foreign investment and foreign currency purchase taxes for the Bermuda Monetary Authority, they were reluctant to be seen to promote something which circumvents taxes and BMA regulations.

The Royal Gazette was told yesterday that the BMA would support a BDR-type scheme only if Government was likely to lift exchange controls in the near future.