Capital apparently throwing in the towel.

In a statement Wednesday, XL said "it does not intend to make a new offer for Capital Re Corporation at this time.'' The statement ends nearly six weeks of rivalry between XL and ACE Ltd. Both Bermuda giants were locked in a tussle for control of the financial guaranty reinsurer, or "bond reinsurer'' company that ACE agreed to buy in June.

But one day before Cap Re shareholders were due to meet to consider the original ACE agreement on October 7, XL weighed in with a counter-offer and the battle was on.

Matters went quiet at the end of October.

XL's last news release spoke of "ensuring that any further offer represented value for money and also making certain that Cap Re would be a good fit'' with XL's existing operations.

Neither of these issues had been mentioned in any of XL's earlier statements.

When Financial Security Assurance Holdings, a competitor of Cap Re's, announced Tuesday that it was offering $140 million of new share capital to its existing shareholders, including XL, the die looked to be cast.

Wednesday's announcement by XL seems to suggest that it has been. The Cap Re board yesterday announced that it was proceeding with the latest ACE bid and, before too long, Cap Re should become part of the ACE group of companies, as was originally envisaged.