Here we have two familiar faces, one says Bermuda real estate and the other, at least until now, was commonly associated with the Island?s domestic insurance sector.

Now the two well-known businessmen ? Buddy Rego and William Madeiros ? have, as of this week, joined together to lead long-established real estate company Rego Realtors. Mr. Madeiros, who started with Rego just yesterday, has been posted to the job of vice president of the company that was set up in 1949 and now boasts 23 staff.

Mr. Madeiros has effectively been charged with the day-to-day running of the operation, although he and Mr. Rego, who is president, told they would be working side by side on many business projects. Mr. Madeiros will be best known to many as a Colonial Insurance executive ? the company that he worked for for 25 years.

Having parted on ?excellent terms?, Mr. Madeiros said he continues to sit on the Colonial board and he will still have some association with insurance in that Rego Realtors are representatives for the domestic insurance sector through offering property and contents coverage to clients. ?It was very important to both Colonial and Buddy (Rego) that the transition should be smooth. No one wanted to create any kind of angst, if it could be avoided.?

Indeed he said the transition had been ?textbook? in the level of support the had received from both his past and present employers. Mr. Rego, for his part, said the company has over the last 54 years grown to the point that he, having taken over the business 23 years ago from its founder, his father, the late Benjamin Rego, needed to create a management team.

?In recent years we have really grown. We are very busy, and are now at the point that I, as president, cannot go much further without the having somebody of William?s calibre on board to add depth at a management level ? and that is not just for the management of staff but also for the future growth of the company,? he said. The company, he said, had grown far beyond the standard buy, sell and rental services you would expect of a realtor. Mr. Rego said the company intends to continue on its path of becoming a full-service company including a broad range of products including property management services, auction services, valuations and professional services including feasibility studies for both commercial and residential developments.

Although a switch, Mr. Madeiros did not seem daunted by starting out in a new sector after a quarter of a century in insurance. ?Any enterprise stands or falls depending on its delivery of service,? he said.

?I am coming into real estate new but look at the record of the company I just left,? he said, adding that despite Hurricane Fabian?s impact on insurers this year, Colonial was seeing ?excellent results? for the year.

As for why he would make a career move at this point, Mr. Madeiros said: ?What really attracted me to come and join Buddy and his team was their calibre and vision to be the pre-eminent real estate service provider.?