ALLEGHANY SELLS LLOYD’S UNIT TO BERMUDIAN NEWCOMER TALBOT

New York-based financial services and industrial group Alleghany Corp has sold its Lloyd’s operation, Alleghany Underwriting Ltd (AUL), to Talbot Holdings, a newly formed Bermuda-based insurance holding company jointly established by AUL’s management and Black Diamond Group (BDG), a merchant bank and advisory firm. Talbot Holdings will be headed by AUL’s Michael Carpenter and launched formally before the end of the year, by which time it is expected to have raised additional capital to support a new syndicate at Lloyd’s for the 2002 year. The company’s Lloyd’s operations are in time expected to form part of a more broadly based insurance group which will include insurance and reinsurance activities in Bermuda. The planned syndicate is expected to underwrite all of the main classes of business currently underwritten by AUL’s corporate-backed syndicate 376, which is due to cease underwriting at the end of this year. AUL’s partner in the joint venture, BDG, is a newly launched merchant bank and advisory firm specialising in insurance company restructurings in the p/c and life sectors. It is headed by Heidi Hutter, Eric Lemieux, Jay Novik and Bruce Reich and headquartered in New York.