Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd., a Bermuda-based property and casualty reinsurance company formed in May, 2002, raised $236.8 million in an initial public offering.

Aspen sold 10,524,000 shares at $22.50 each, compared with a price of $20 to $22 a share indicated in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The proceeds from the sale will be used to bolster capital and pay debt.

Credit Suisse First Boston and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. managed the sale, sharing fees of $16.6 million with Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., UBS AG, Dowling & Partners Securities LLC, Fox-Pitt Kelton and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. Bermuda-based insurance start-ups have raised more than $15 billion since losses from the September, 2001 terrorist attacks left older insurers unable to meet the demand from buyers. Investors are attracted to the new companies as competitors report losses on policies they sold to cheaply in the late 1990s.

Reinsurance companies insure other insurers that want to share risks. Aspen also sells property and liability insurance in the UK and so-called surplus lines, policies customized to unique risks, in the US.

Aspen sold $961.1 million worth of policies in the first nine months of this year. Between May and December 2002 it sold $312.6 million worth of policies.

Bermuda-based insurers Alea Group Holdings Ltd., Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd., and Axis Capital Holdings Ltd. have also gone public this year, raising $972.8 million, according to Bloomberg data.

The company may sell an additional 1,428,600 shares and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ?AHL?.