Reeve Court Insurance Co. for $100 million.

Reeve Court was founded by former US Treasury Department official Cynthia Beerbower to offer specialised investment and estate planning products, including life insurance to a group of trusts and high net-worth individuals.

"Reeve Court is able to offer extremely creative and cost effective products by operating entirely offshore with strict cost management,'' Mrs. Beerbower said. "The products are designed to maximise the income and estate tax savings associated with standard life insurance products, while being customised for the particular needs of a select clientele.'' Reeve Court will become a consolidated subsidiary of EXEL. David Broadhurst has been appointed president of the company. Mr. Broadhurst was recently an investment banker in Toronto, and was previously senior tax partner of Price Waterhouse, Canada.

EXEL will provide Reeve Court with expertise in insurance, investment management and product administration.

ANNUAL RATE OF INFLATION CLIMBS GVT Annual rate of inflation climbs The annual rate of inflation was 2.1 percent for May, up from 1.8 percent recorded in April.

The Statistics Department of the Ministry of Finance said consumer prices on average advanced 0.2 percent in May, as the all-items index rose from 107.4 in April to 107.6 in May.

The largest monthly increase came from the transport sector which increased 0.4 percent, due in large measure to increased pricing on gasoline (up one percent) and the cost of travel (up 0.7 percent).

The average price of the food basket increased 0.3 percent, reflecting higher prices for items such as oranges (up 7.5 percent), green peppers (up 6.8 percent), grapes (up 2.9 percent), coffee (up 2.2 percent), beef (up 1.7 percent), milk (up 1.4 percent) and fish (up one percent).

ACE COMPLETES TARQUIN PURCHASE BUC ACE completes Tarquin purchase ACE Ltd. announced yesterday that it has completed the acquisition of Tarquin Limited, a UK-based holding company which owns Lloyd's managing agency Charman Underwriting Agencies Ltd. and Tarquin Underwriting Limited, its corporate capital provider. In the acquisition, ACE issued approximately 14.3 million ordinary shares to the shareholders of Tarquin.