85.5 offer, or 696 pence per share, for the 49 percent of the Brockbank Group Plc it doesn't already own.

Brockbank provides management services to underwriters on the Lloyd's of London market. The offer is being made under an agreement between the two companies made in December 1995. Brockbank Group shares are traded in London on the Alternative Investment Market.

Insurance and reinsurance companies have been taking stakes in Lloyd's agents so that they can get a foothold at the world's largest insurance market and tap into the expertise there. By purchasing a management company, insurers provide underwriting capacity and get control over the company managing it.

"Mid Ocean will benefit from the diversification that full ownership of the Brockbank Group, with its wide-ranging lines of business, will bring to our book of business as well as an outstanding team of underwriters and an organisation that has constantly outperformed,'' Mid Ocean President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Butt said in a statement.

Mid Ocean bought a 51 percent stake in Brockbank in December 1995. The company stated at the time that it would make a bid for the rest of the company before September 1, 1997. The bid was dependent on the completion of a rescue package for Lloyd's of London, which ended most of the litigation against the market and secured its future.

Bermuda-based Mid Ocean, through its subsidiary Mid Ocean Reinsurance Co.

Ltd., provides reinsurance in a wide variety of sectors.

Michael Butt