(Bloomberg) ? Aspen Insurance Holdings Ltd., a Bermuda-based specialty insurer and reinsurer, will start selling aviation policies in the UK to vary its offerings of property and casualty coverage.

The Hamilton, Bermuda-based company will recruit a new team of underwriters to develop the aviation account from 2005, it said in a PRNewswire statement.

Aspen is expanding its lines of specialty property insurance after raising a net $212 million in an initial share sale at the end of last year. The aviation team will join the marine- insurance unit, created in June and headed by liability specialist John Henderson, Aspen said.

?The move into aviation insurance is part of our strategy to grow in complex technical lines and help balance our overall portfolio,? Chief Executive Chris O?Kane said in the statement. ?Because of its excellent broker distribution network, London is the global center for large-risk aviation insurance.?

Aspen, set up in June 2002 by Lloyd?s of London insurer Wellington Underwriting Plc, is also backed by private equity from investors including Blackstone Group LP, Candover Investments Plc and Credit Suisse First Boston Private Equity.