Overseas Partners has been listed as the top Bermuda re/insurance company for 1999 by a leading UK industry magazine, Reinsurance.

Overseas Partners has been given pole position because of net written premiums of $819.7 million, a combined ratio of 108.2 percent, pre-tax profits of $229.7 million and technical reserves of $1.35 billion.

In second place for last year is listed Partner Re, third XL Mid Ocean, fourth, Commercial Risk Re and fifth ESG Re.

And the magazine said that despite a soft market and looming so-called Bermuda Tax `loophole' being closed by the US congress, Bermuda's reinsurance world has done very well in the past 18 months.

It states: "However, all the efforts to hamper reinsurers taking advantage of Bermuda's low tax jurisdiction have done little to stem the flow of re/insurers investing in new and existing companies on the Island.'' It cites French reinsurance Scor acquiring the remaining 35 percent of Commercial Risk Re, Us-based Transatlantic Re invest in Ram Re, US re/insurer Markel buy Terra Nova and re/insurers Everest Re, PXRE, Trenwick and White Mountains relocate to Bermuda from the US.

The article, by Cameron Andrews, also points to the first Japanese reinsurer to set up on the Island, Tokio Millennium Re, which has a capital of $125 million.

And the article, entitled "Weathering the Storm'', points to entry of Bermuda into guarantee insurance and the increasing development of finite reinsurance.

The top five insurance companies are listed in the article, with Overseas Partner in first place. Partner Re gets second because of net written premiums of $467 million, combined ratio of 96.7 percent, pre-tax profits of $115 and technical reserves of $1.68 million.

XL Mid Ocean is reported as having net written premiums of $438.1 million, a combined ratio of 94.9, pre-tax profit of $174.3 million and technical reserves of $1.57 billion.

Commercial Risk Re is polled fourth with net written premium of $379.4 million, a combined ratio of 102 percent, pre-tax profits of $29.5 million and technical reserves of $407.9 million.

And despite making a pre-tax loss of $41.2 million, ESG Re was poled fifth because of the $313.6 million in net written premiums, combined ratio of 122.1 percent and technical reserves of 318.1 million.