McLennan Cos. Ltd. is "not material,'' according to the Bermuda-based insurer's vice president.

Mr. Gavin Arton said the sale of 88,660 shares by Marsh & McLennan Risk Capital Holdings, an indirectly owned unit of Marsh & McLennan Cos., and 200 shares by Putnam Advisory Co., a Marsh and McLennan wholly-owned subsidiary, are a "fine-tuning of ownership''.

Marsh & McLennan are " not indicating a decision to sell off shares,'' he added.

The sales represent a marginal drop the group's stake in EXEL to 5.06 percent or 2,738,701 shares.

"They continue to be one of our larger shareholders,'' said Mr. Arton. Marsh & McLennan and investment bank JP Morgan were EXEL's founding sponsors when the insurer was formed in 1985.

According to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, on August 15, Putnam sold 200 shares for an average price of $39.38 while the holding company sold 88,660 shares on September 30 for an average price of $38.03, according to Bloomberg financial news service.

Because Marsh & McLennan owns a stake of moe than five percent they are required by the SEC to file any change of ownership, Mr. Arton said.

EXEL, which provides liability insurance coverage world-wide through its wholly-owned subsidiary XL Insurance Ltd., went public in 1991.

Its shares were trading down 13 cents at $38.75 on volume of 18,000 shares in late trading yesterday.