Mark Byrne has stepped down as executive chairman of Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings, the company announced yesterday.

Mr. Byrne, who will continue with the reinsurer as a non-executive member of the board, will be replaced by Daniel James, who has been a member of the board since the company's inception in 2005.

The news comes the week after Flagstone announced it had completed the redomestication of its holding company from Bermuda to Luxembourg.

Mr. Byrne co-founded Flagstone with the company's Bermuda-based chief executive officer David Brown, who will remain in his role.

Steve Coley, Flagstone's Governance Committee chairman, said: "Mark and David founded Flagstone together as partners, and as the company has reached a certain degree of maturity, Mark recommended and the board agreed that the executive leadership of only one of the founding partners is required to take the business forward."

The company has expanded globally since it was set up with around $715 million in initial capital, as one of the 'class of 2005' reinsurers to incorporate in Bermuda in response to the market dislocation created by Hurricane Katrina.

Mr. Coley added: "We are very fortunate to have in David Brown a chief executive with extensive industry experience who, together with the executive team, has built Flagstone into a world-class company, and will continue to execute Flagstone's strategy and manage our operations around the world.

"We have great confidence that Flagstone will continue to grow and prosper under his ongoing leadership.

Mr. James, who will serve as "non-executive chairman" is a founding partner and head of North America of Trilantic Capital Partners, a private equity firm managing over $3.6 billion.

Prior to TCP, Mr. James was head of North America of Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking.