Ironshore has pulled off a double coup after it announced the appointment of Shaun Kelly as head of US operations late on Tuesday night.

Mr. Kelly, who was chief operating officer at New York-based American International Group's (AIG) Lexington Co., joins his former company head Kevin Kelley, who was named CEO of Ironshore, as reported in The Royal Gazette yesterday.

The move, which was confirmed by Ironshore president Robert Deutsch, represents the biggest defection of managers from AIG to a rival company since the firm's bailout by the US Government in September.

Mr. Kelley, 58, joined Lexington in 1975 as an underwriter and was named president in 1987. He joins former AIG executive Gregory Flood, who was chief operating officer of AIG's National Union Fire Insurance Co. selling coverage to corporate boards until he was hired by Ironshore in 2007.

"This is a world-class coup for us," said Mr. Deutsch, a founder of Ironshore, who stepped down as CEO to lure Mr. Kelley, said in a telephone interview with Bloomberg. "We want to get into all of the lines of business Lexington is in. There are areas that are ripe for another player."

"It's unfortunate for AIG, I'm sure they would've liked to have kept," both managers, said Joyce Sharaf, an analyst at ratings firm AM Best Co. in Oldwick, New Jersey. "Kelley built up an extremely profitable organisation, and the concern is that business could follow such a high-profile departure."

Best said the ratings and outlook for Ironshore and its operating subsidiaries was unchanged following the hiring of Mr. Kelley and Mr. Kelly. The operating subsidiaries of Ironshore include Ironshore Insurance Ltd., Ironshore Reinsurance Ltd. (both of Bermuda), Ironshore Indemnity Inc. (Minneapolis) and Ironshore Specialty Insurance Co. (Phoenix).

The ratings agency said, given the significant experience of both executives in lines of business not currently targeted by Ironshore, it expected there will be some change to Ironshore's mix of business in the future. It reckons the two new appointments will play a big part in the development of Ironshore's franchise in light of their track record, predicting a shift to complementary commercial casualty lines of business and, ultimately, a more diversified portfolio.

The executives depart as AIG's CEO Edward Liddy attempted to stem defections by paying out retention awards to 168 top managers that may double or triple their salaries. Mr. Liddy, trying to sell units to repay loans in the $152.5 billion US bailout, has said the subsidiaries will lose value if key employees leave.

Joe Norton, a spokesman for AIG, declined to comment. The Lexington unit, which sells so-called excess and surplus insurance for risks that state-regulated insurers will not cover, is among operations Mr. Liddy intends to keep. AIG said Peter Eastwood had replaced Mr. Kelley as head of Lexington.