WP Stewart & Co. Ltd. has been granted a primary listing of its common shares on the Bermuda Stock Exchange, the investment company announced yesterday.

The company also said it had applied to the US Securities and Exchange Commission to deregister its common shares from the New York Stock Exchange.

Trading of WP Stewart's shares in New York was suspended by the NYSE from earlier this month since its market capitalisation fell below $25 million over a 30-day trading period.

WP Stewart expects that the deregistration of its common shares will become effective 90 days after the date of filing of the relevant form with the SEC.

The company is eligible to deregister its common shares because it had fewer than 300 holders of record of its common shares at the beginning of its fiscal year.

Trading is expected to continue in the company's common shares on the BSX under the symbol "WPS" and on the Pink Sheets under the current symbol of "WPSLF".

"We expect the deregistration of the common shares to have significant cost savings and to better enable management to focus on our long-term strategy for success," said Mark Phelps, the company's president and chief executive officer.

WP Stewart saw its assets under management fall over the past year to around $1.4 billion, by December 31. At the end of 2006, the company was managing around $8.1 billion.