Insurance and Reinsurance Company Ltd. from Sedgwick Group plc.

According to a release from Sedgwick's London base,"The purchase price, representing the value of Mendip's consolidated shareholders' funds at August 31, 1994, subject to certain adjustments, will not exceed 30 million.'' Mendip is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sedgwick and the sale has given CentreLine significantly more in time and distance assets under management.

Mr. Michael Palm, Centre Re president and CEO, said yesterday,"With the acquisition of Mendip, CentreLine now has more than $2 billion of T&D assets under management, making it by far the leading provider of this service to Lloyd's syndicates.

"This is consistent with Centre Re's commitment to remain a pre-eminent reinsurer in the London marketplace.'' Mr. Thomas Gleeson, vice president, finance, for Zurich Centre Investment Ltd., said the sale is a "strategic move to strengthen our capabilities to provide reinsurance services to the Lloyd's syndicate.

"Obviously there was a significant period of due diligence leading up to this agreement,'' he added.

The consideration was payable in cash on September 30, 1994, except for a deferred sum of 8.6 million, payable in nine annual instalments to December 31, 2002. Payments will vary between .6 million and 1.3 million.

Mendip's profits for the year ending December 31, 1993, were 1.7 million and net assets were 18.2 million. Mendip's total assets and liabilities at December 31, 1993, were 337.7 million and 319.5 million respectively.

Group profits in 1994 are not expected to "materially affected'' by the sale.

CentreLine Reinsurance Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Centre Reinsurance Holdings Ltd, which provides customised reinsurance, insurance and finite risk management products with subsidiaries in New York, London and Dublin that has combined assets of $5.85 billion. It is a member of the Zurich Insurance Group.