Mid Ocean Ltd. shareholders who want cash instead of shares in EXEL Ltd. will receive $81.23125 for each new share they would have been entitled to receive.

EXEL announced earlier this year it had agreed to pay $2.1 billion in stock for the 73 percent of Mid Ocean it didn't already own. The company subsequently announced a cash payout adding up to a total of $300 million for Mid Ocean and EXEL shareholders who didn't want shares in the merged company.

The $81 cash per share was calculated to the average of the closing sales prices for EXEL shares during ten trading days ended July 28.

In related news Standard & Poor's has affirmed its double A financial strength and counterparty credit ratings on X.L. Insurance Co. Ltd. and wholly owned subsidiary X.L. Europe Insurance.

S&P said it also expected that upon the acquisition by EXEL Ltd. of Mid Ocean the ratings agency will affirm the financial strength and counterparty ratings of X.L. Insurance Co. Ltd.'s reinsurance subsidiary X.L. Global Reinsurance Co. Ltd.

The outlook on X.L Insurance and X.L. Europe has been revised to stable from negative.

"The rating affirmation reflects X.L. Insurance Co. Ltd.'s strong earnings, conservative reserving methodologies and established position within the excess liability marketplace,'' S&P said. "Additional weights are the aggressive restructuring efforts of EXEL Ltd., entrance into new markets and the potential prospective effects to X.L. Insurance Co. Ltd.'s operations.

Other rating factors were a 200 percent capital ratio, considered "very strong'', improved product diversification, conservative underwriting and aggressive management strategies. "Standard & Poor's believes that for 1998, X.L. Insurance Co. Ltd. will post a return on revenue between 35-40 percent and that return on equity results, barring a significant equity or bond market decline, should be above 25 percent,'' the agency stated.