the company was bought for $475 million by fellow US insurance giant, Aon Corporation.

Mr. Stuart Grayston, president and CEO of Frank B Hall (Bermuda), said yesterday he did not know what the local effects of the deal would be.

Aon Corporation, which owns Rollins Burdick Hunter (Bermuda), has not announced details of what changes it plans to make.

But it is unlikely that all of FBH's staff will be re-employed at RBH's offices in Hamilton.

"From a physical standpoint, there's probably no place where you can put us all together,'' said Mr. Grayston.

However, there was likely to be few redundancies over the next six months while decisions are made, he said.

"It's just a question of wait and see,'' he added. "There's nothing that can be said about it at the moment.

"We really don't know what's going on at this point in time. It's far too early to determine what the effect will be.

"From a jobs standpoint, I would expect the effect to be fairly minimal over the short-term.'' Rollins Burdick Hunter's local head Mr. Robin Spencer-Arscott is a former president of FBH (Bermuda). He welcomed the deal but said he did not know what the local consequences would be.

The deal brings to an end a 25-year presence in Bermuda by Frank B Hall, which has offices at Craig Appin House, in Hamilton.

FBH has sold substantially all of its operating assets for $475 million, plus the assumption by Aon of some of FBH's operating liabilities.

The purchase price will comprise $125 million in cash, $225 million of Aon 8-percent perpetual preferred stock and $125 million of Aon 6.25-percent convertible preferred stock.

Following the sale of its assets, FBH will be merged with a subsidiary of its majority shareholder, Reliance Group Holdings, Inc.

Under the merger, FBH's common shareholders other than Reliance will receive 0.625 shares of Reliance common stock in exchange for each RBH share they own.

Under the terms of the agreement, Aon will not acquire FBH's discontinued operations nor certain other assets and liabilities.

Mr. Patrick G. Ryan, Aon's chairman and CEO, said: "This transaction would position Aon's insurance brokerage arm as the third largest insurance brokerage firm in the United States.

"Importantly, it will further strengthen our global insurance brokerage reach through the addition of offices in the United Kingdom, the Continent of Europe including Italy and Scandinavia, throughout the Far East and in Mexico and other South American countries.'' Aon Corporation, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has assets of approximately $12 billion.

STUART GRAYSTON: `A question of wait and see.'