Little is expected to change for insurer British American whose Bahamas parent, British-American Holdings Ltd., has sold pieces of its global operation to Trinidad's largest life insurer.

Trinidad-based CL Financial will buy the holding company's shares in its subsidiary, British-American Insurance Co. Ltd. (BAICO), for an undisclosed sum.

BAICO has branches in Bermuda, Aruba, Cayman, Turks & Caicos, the Eastern Caribbean Islands, the Netherlands Antilles, Guyana and Panama.

The agreement also includes the transfer of other BAICO subsidiaries British-American Insurance Co. (Trinidad) Ltd. and British American Insurance Co. (Barbados) Ltd.

The size of British American will be reduced considerably when the deal is done, but it will still retain control of business in some areas including Bahamas, Mauritius, Kenya and Malta.

The transaction is expected to be completed within the next few weeks, pending regulatory approvals. A joint committee has been established involving executives from the two merging companies to maintain British-American's various operations.

Upon completion of the deal, the transferred business of BAICO will form part of CL Financial Services Group.

British American's Bermuda subsidiary writes about $2.5 million in annual premiums in life and health lines and has been here since the mid-1950s. No immediate changes are expected in the local business.

British American's global operations before the partial sell-off included assets of $380 million at the end of the fiscal year 1994. Revenues for that year amounted to about $94 million.