Corange chairman fights attempt to remove him
Businessman Curt Engelhorn obtained an eleventh-hour court order this week to prevent Bermuda-based health care firm Corange from removing him as a director.
Regulation S securities – John McNiff’s Offshore Investment Fund
More US companies may turn towards Regulation S securities offerings as a way of raising money due to the recent plunge of American stock markets, according to investment manager John McNiff.Mr McNiff, who runs Bermuda-based Offshore Investment Fund Ltd (OIFL), said US firms would find it increasingly difficult to raise money through public offerings in the current climate of market uncertainty.
Dead woman’s family sues Bermudian dive boat operator
A drowned scuba diver's family has taken steps to stop dive instructor Michael Heslop from disposing of any funds he may receive from the sale of his business.Mr Heslop has recently been trying to sell his dive boat operation, Fantasea Diving.
Lloyd’s List stands behind ‘Bermuda warning’ story
The UK insurance daily newspaper Lloyd's List has reiterated its claim that the Department of Trade & Industry is concerned about the quality of Bermuda's reinsurance market - despite an angry letter from the Bermuda Ministry of Finance.
Tony Habib trial date postponed
The trial of Bermuda company boss Tony Habib, which was originally due to have been held on March 21, has been postponed because of additional time required by US investigators to gather information locally.
DTI issues ‘Bermuda warning’ after collapse of Bermuda Fire & Marine
The Department of Trade & Industry's warning to UK insurers about taking out reinsurance in Bermuda is a direct result of the collapse of Bermuda Fire & Marine, Lloyd's List newspaper has reported.
Members of Gooda Walker Lloyd’s syndicates file lawsuit in Bermuda
Members of two ill-fated Gooda Walker insurance syndicates have filed a lawsuit at Bermuda Supreme Court.
Trial date set for Tony Habib
A trial date for Bermuda company boss Tony Habib, who is accused of a multi-million dollar fraud, has been set for March 21 in the Federal Court southern district of New York.
Bermuda investment advisor Angus McKay fired for suspicious behaviour
Mystery surrounds the firing of investment boss Angus C McKay from Bermuda Overseas Investment Company.
Beinhocker and Plunkett firm faces winding-up
An application has been made to wind up Bermuda-based Windsor Investments, which is majority owned by beleaguered American businessmen Gilbert Beinhocker and Gregory Plunkett.Channel Islands-based Maydown Consultants, which filed the winding-up petition at Bermuda Supreme Court on Wednesday, claims the investment company owes it $375,000.
New hope for Beinhocker and Plunkett investors
Bermuda-based investors fighting to regain $750,000 which was allegedly stripped from their firm by American Gilbert Beinhocker may get most of their money back.The receiver of their investment firm, EPA Inc, has ordered the return of $500,000 in Promissory Notes that were taken out of the firm by Dr Beinhocker.Dr Beinhocker, who ran EPA for its investors, gave two notes - worth a total of $207,692 - to law firms Hale & Dorr, of Boston, and Richards, Layton & Finger, of Delaware, as payment for legal bills.
Graham Ferguson-Lacey relaxes ties with Bermuda
Controversial businessman Graham Ferguson Lacey, whose failed ventures are reported to have cost investors more than $400 million, is relaxing his business ties with Bermuda.An application has been made to move the domicile of the publicly-quoted Van Diemen's Company Ltd. from Bermuda to Luxembourg.
ACE and EXEL do not expect losses from breast implant coverage to cause undue problems
Potential losses from breast implant litigation in the United States should not cause undue problems for Bermuda-based excess liability carriers ACE and XL, both companies said this week.
ACE downplays exposure to breast implant litigation
Potential losses from breast implant litigation in the United States should not cause undue problems for Bermuda-based excess liability carriers ACE and XL, both companies said this week.
Bermuda professionals deposed in Tony Habib case
US federal prosecutors investigating Bermuda company boss Tony Habib have taken steps to depose local accountant Ray Medeiros and lawyer Ken Robinson.
Bermuda budget will see relaxation of exchange controls in stages
The likelihood of foreign exchange controls being lifted in their entirety in the Budget on February 14 is considered to be virtually non-existent by Bermuda's financial community. While a complete overhaul of Bermuda's financial regulations may have been the Government's intention as recently as a few months ago, the issue has been turned on its head by talk of independence, according to businessmen.
Oil, money and power – the watch-words of businessman John Deuss
Bermuda-based oil magnate John Deuss, 51, has lived a life that is remarkable even among the rich and famous. Since his first car dealership went bust in the 1960s, he has outwitted the Soviets, broken an oil embargo in South Africa, had his home fire-bombed by anti-apartheid protesters and helped clinch the world's largest oil deal. In the process, this self-made Dutchman has made billions of dollars. DAVID MARCHANT takes a look at his extraordinary career and asks: 'John Deuss - Hero or Villain?'
Members sign deal to buy St. George’s Club
Members of the plush 69-unit St. George's Club timeshare complex have signed a preliminary agreement to buy the business for approximately $5 million.A party from the Members Advisory Council will visit Bermuda later this month to inspect the Club's books and meet with Government, which owns the land.
Investors get stung time and again on Vancouver Stock Exchange
The saying ‘there's one born every minute' has never been more appropriate than when applied to the plethora of investors who have lost their shirts gambling on companies that prospect for diamonds and gold in ‘them thar hills' of British Columbia, Canada. DAVID MARCHANT takes a look at an industry that has attracted substantial investment from Bermuda residents and scrutinizes the performance of the notorious Vancouver Stock Exchange, which helps firms raise money and which was described in Forbes magazine in 1989 as ‘The Scam Capital of the World'.
Bermuda police investigate Summit Development
Bermuda police are investigating an allegation that hundreds of thousands of dollars have gone missing from a local property development company.The cash has allegedly disappeared from The Summit Development Ltd, which built ten homes in Cut Road, St. George's, during the late 1980s.
Bermuda Fire & Marine liquidators receive court extension
Ernst & Young, the provisional liquidators of Bermuda Fire & Marine Insurance, have been granted an extra three months by Bermuda Supreme Court to compile information about the company's financial health and are now expected to produce their findings on March 10.
Bermuda’s Foreign Currency Exchange Controls: What they are and who they affect
To all intents and purposes, Bermuda does not have any meaningful foreign currency exchange controls as far as people's ordinary spending habits are concerned, although it is a different story for capital investment.
Arnold Todd file to go to Bermuda AG
A police file on Arnold Todd and others allegedly involved in a multi-million dollar fraud ring will be sent to the Attorney-General's chambers early next month.But criminal charges are unlikely to be brought for several months, if they are brought at all, Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Superintendent Wayne Perinchief said last night.
PartnerRe has no need for Bermuda brokers
Partner Reinsurance Company, the $1 billion property catastrophe reinsurer which opened for business last month, has firmly defended its controversial policy of offering capacity direct to reinsurance buyers.Unlike other markets on the island, Partner Re prefers not to conduct business through placing brokers — a philosophy which has not endeared it to the reinsurance intermediaries.
PartnerRe bypasses Bermuda brokers
Partner Reinsurance Company, the $1 billion property catastrophe reinsurer which opened for business last month, has firmly defended its policy of offering capacity direct to reinsurance buyers.Partner Re president and chief executive officer Herbert Haag said this week that Swiss Re, one of Partner Re's founding shareholders and the supplier of essential underwriting services to the catastrophe company, had already established a "clear tradition" of writing direct.
Scheme of arrangement for Bristol Re
International Advisory Services, Bermuda's largest independent insurance management company, says it is working on putting together a scheme of arrangement for Bristol Reinsurance Ltd, the property and marine commercial reinsurer it has managed since October 1991.
Sphere Drake invests $100 m in Bermuda subsidiary
Sphere Drake Holdings is injecting $100 million into its lightly-capitalised Bermuda subsidiary to enable it to write up to $130 million of net premiums over the next 12 months.The new capital is coming from the group's recently-concluded initial public offering which raised $136.7 million.
General information on Bermuda – 1993
An overview of Bermuda, 1993.
Mark Hardy apologizes to Bermuda Supreme Court
Focus Insurance chief Mark Hardy has publicly apologized to the Supreme Court for disobeying its orders freezing assets he held here and overseas.
The verbal apology, which Mr Hardy asked the court to view in light of "horrendous litigation over the last three years", was delivered to the Chief Justice of Bermuda during the course of a two-hour open hearing. Mr Hardy, now an adjudged bankrupt who described himself as "a strong believer in the rule of law", told the court he had been through hell during the last few months because he had been litigating in person.
Bermuda Fire chairman criticizes DTI
Bermuda Fire and Marine Insurance chairman Charles Collis says responsibility for regulatory compliance by the company's UK subsidiary was the job of H S Weavers.
Bermuda Fire & Marine can still honour its debts, claims chairman
Bermuda Fire & Marine chairman Charles Collis said yesterday that the company has between $50 million and $60 million in reserves and was put into liquidation to avoid "a feeding frenzy" by its creditors.
Provisional liquidators appointed at Bermuda Fire & Marine
Provisional liquidators have been appointed to investigate the financial position of Bermuda Fire and Marine Insurance Company Ltd after the company filed for a voluntary winding up order on November 2.
Mark Hardy will apologize to Bermuda Supreme Court
Bankrupt businessman Mark Hardy, the former head of the insolvent Focus Insurance group, is returning to Bermuda - to personally apologize to the Supreme Court for ignoring its orders.The apology will be offered in compliance with a ruling by Britain's Privy Council, the highest court of appeal for litigants in UK protected territories, that Mr Hardy first "purge" his standing with the Bermuda court before the Privy Council hears his appeal.
David Thirkill tries to raise $150 m for new insurer
Former Focus Insurance director David Thirkill is planning to raise $150 million to start a new financial or finite risk insurance company on the island.The company, which has not yet been incorporated, is to be called Stellar Insurance — a name that Mr Thirkill said had already been reserved.
BFCL may turn to overseas investors
Founding investors in a planned $131 million hotel proposed to take the place of the Bermudiana have been told that the full cost of the project could be met with funds from overseas. Gordon Capital Corporation, the Canadian investment banking firm advising on the financing of the project, has said the money can be raised from its clients off the island.
Mark Hardy goes into bankruptcy in the UK
Focus Insurance chief Mark Hardy was yesterday adjudged bankrupt by an English court.However Mr Hardy, who has long claimed he would not receive justice until a suit for negligence started against him in Bermuda by Focus liquidators was brought before an English judge, warned last night that his legal battle was "far from over".
Mark Hardy declared bankrupt
Businessman Mark Hardy, the former chairman of insolvent Focus Insurance, was today adjudged bankrupt by an English court.
Focus directors fail to have lawsuit struck out
Bermuda Supreme Court Chief Justice Sir James Astwood has refused to strike out a civil action started last summer by the liquidators of Focus Insurance against its former directors and officers.He has ruled that the action contains allegations which, if proved at trial, could show that the directors deliberately disregarded their legal duty to Focus and failed to exercise the care, diligence and skill that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in comparable circumstances.
Mark Hardy tries to set aside $19.7 m judgment
Focus Insurance chief Mark Hardy has begun a legal action in the UK seeking to set aside a $19.7 million summary judgement handed down against him in the Bermuda Supreme Court.
Tony Habib company to go into liquidation
Financial Services Insurance, the Bermuda-based company whose chief executive was arrested on fraud charges last month, is to be placed in liquidation.
Walton Insurance run-off moved from Bermuda to UK
The run off of Walton Insurance Ltd, a Bermuda-based carrier formerly owned by Phillips Petroleum, is to be transferred to the UK in a cost-cutting move that will lead to the loss of 11 jobs.Announcing the relocation, president Tim Spafford said that a further six jobs will also be axed with the closing of an affiliated Bermuda company, Insurance and Reinsurance Services Ltd — a company that specialised in claims audit services.
Assets of Tony Habib company frozen in Bermuda
The Ministry of Finance has frozen the activities of a Bermuda-based insurance company after its chief executive and founder was arrested in New York on fraud charges.Alleged trickster Tony Habib, who heads Financial Services Insurance Ltd, is accused of conning auditors and insurance authorities here and in the US into believing that his company had over $50 million in assets. In reality, its finances are said to be "in serious jeopardy".
Portermains go into hiding
A Bermuda-based insurance company's president and his wife are thought to have gone into hiding after a Federal court in Dallas last week found them guilty of fraud.Neill and Florence Portermain were also found to have taken money from the company under false pretences and were ordered to pay a Bermudian liquidator $17.6 million in damages and interest.
Mentor creditors support scheme of arrangement
Creditors of insolvent Mentor Insurance have given near unanimous support to a proposed "scheme of arrangement" under which the bulk of the company's $175 million of remaining assets are to be distributed by the end of 1994.
Of 277 creditors represented at a brief special meeting here on Tuesday, all but one voted for the scheme. The 276 supporting creditors represented claims against the company to the value of $310 million.
Over 70 international banks represented in Bermuda
Tempting as it is to believe that international banking competition is next to impossible on a tiny island served by just three licensed banks, the belief could not be further from the truth.Bermuda's domestic banks compete for international business not only among themselves, but, increasingly, against powerful overseas financial institutions, some of which access the Bermuda market through local corporate vehicles that do not require banking licences.
Growth of insurance sector shakes up Bermuda’s banking industry
Insurance companies seldom come to Bermuda for banking services alone.But they'd be unlikely to stay without them. How else would the 1,324 insurance and reinsurance corporations domiciled here manage the billions of dollars of premiums ($15.41 billion gross and $11.81 billion net at the last count) they write every year?Yet while an efficient banking system has clearly been helpful to the Bermuda insurance industry, it is no less true that the specialised demands of Bermuda's insurers have served to work wonders for the financial systems of Britain's oldest colony.
Belvedere Insurance to fight lawsuit
Belvedere Insurance says it will fight a legal action begun against its parent Caliban Holdings this week.
Privy Council asked to rule on level of competence expected of Bermuda directors
The Privy Council, the highest court of appeal for litigants in British colonies, is to be asked to rule on the nature and standard of skill, care and expertise which the law requires of directors and officers of Bermuda-based companies.The appeal by Focus Insurance Company liquidators could affect every corporation registered here and may ultimately produce a landmark decision in the development of Bermuda's company law.However, the Privy Council application relies on liquidators David Lines and Peter Mitchell first obtaining leave to appeal a Court of Appeal judgment handed down November 25.
Bermuda arrest warrant issued for Mark Hardy
Bermuda's Chief Justice Sir James Astwood has ordered the arrest of former Focus Insurance chairman Mark Hardy for disobeying the Supreme Court's orders.Sir James said that he was holding UK-based Mark Gregory Hardy in contempt of court for violating injunctions issued in July 1991 and February 1992 freezing his personal assets worldwide. He ruled yesterday that Mr Hardy be arrested and brought before him on January 8 "to show cause why I should not commit him to prison".
Mark Hardy continues attempt to strike out lawsuit
Former Focus Insurance chairman Mark Hardy is seeking leave to appeal to the Privy Council after the Court of Appeal last month dismissed his application to overturn a Supreme Court decision.The lower court had disallowed Mr Hardy's attempt to strike out an action against him by Focus' liquidators, who are seeking $19.7 million from the chairman and other defendants.
