From new businesses arriving to fears about exit strategies being dusted off 2007 was a hive of activity in Bermuda's business sector

The year 2007 proved to be a big one for business in Bermuda for a number of different reasons.

Among some of the major stories to break during the course of the year were everything from the arrival of a host of new names to the Island, including the Argo Group, and the sale and takeover of some of the Bermuda's top assets, such the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel, to leading re/insurers voicing their fears over the political climate in Bermuda.

The year began with a bright new dawn for telecommunications firms following the Ministry of Telecommunications and E-Commerce's move to write to 23 companies inviting them to apply for a licence to lay and operate a new submarine telecommunications cable in a bid to encourage competition and increase data-carrying capacity.

February saw the controversial IPOC International Growth Fund under fire as Finance Minister Paula Cox called on the Supreme Court to wind it up along with eight other related companies. As we head into 2008 the case is set to rumble on through the courts at least until next September.

March was marked with the announcement of plans to split Bermuda-headquartered conglomerate Tyco International into three separate companies after two high-level meetings on the Island. Tyco later completed the spin-offs of its health care and electronics units in June.

In April, Bermuda-based life reinsurance specialist Scottish Re Group set out to complete a $600-million rescue deal to save it from the brink of bankruptcy. It was agreed that two private equity firms MassMutual Capital Partners and affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management would each invest $300 million into the company in a takeover that has saved the struggling reinsurer.

Argo Group International Holdings became the newest Bermudian international company in August after being formed from a merger between Bermuda reinsurer PXRE and Texas-based insurance company Argonaut Group. With combined assets of more than $5 billion, an investment portfolio of $2.6 billion, capital of $1.6 billion and a debt-to-capital ratio of 22 percent, the new company was traded on the NASDAQ exchange and has a business mix of 85 percent insurance and 15 percent reinsurance.

September was notable for the sale of the Fairmont Hamilton Princess hotel to an American private real estate investment company. Bermuda's oldest, and one of its biggest hotels, was acquired by Seattle-based Goodman Hospitality Investments, which has already invested $20 million in the hotel.

But Fairmont Hotels & Resorts announced it will continue to manage the property and there will be no changes to the management, staff or operation of the hotel.

In the same month, it was claimed that a number of international businesses in Bermuda were re-examining their exit strategies from the Island because of increasing unhappiness with the political climate and problems associated with work permit term limits. That was according to a new report published in Global Reinsurance, which is part of the USA Today newspaper-publishing group Gannett, in the UK.

November was rife with speculation that the Bank of Bermuda could be sold off by HSBC following a report in the UK's The Daily Telegraph which said it may be one of several assets put up for sale as the British bank focuses more on emerging markets. But the Bank of Bermuda remained tight-lipped on the matter, declining to comment.

The year finished with the particularly busy month of December, in which numerous companies redomiciled from London to Bermuda, with Hardy Underwriting the latest Lloyd's of London underwriter to decide to make the move.

The decision came just days after giant investment management company Invesco, which has more than $500 billion under management, redomiciled to the Island.

The final month of the year also saw Lines Overseas Management (LOM) set to face charges of security fraud filed by the US' Security Exchange Commission. The SEC filed a civil injunctive action in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York against brothers Scott Lines, the firm's chief executive officer, and former president Brian Lines, along with Lines Overseas Management, LOM (Holdings), LOM Capital, LOM Securities (Bermuda), LOM Securities (Cayman) and LOM Securities (Bahamas).

It was alleged that all of the parties took part in two fraudulent schemes to manipulate the stock prices of microcap companies Sedona Software Solutions and SHEP Technologies, but LOM vowed to fight the charges, calling them "legally and factually unsound" and part of a "longstanding pattern of harassment against LOM and its officers".