Endurance Initial Investors to Sell 8 Million Shares

Bermuda-based Endurance Specialty Holdings Ltd. announced that two of its initial investors, Texas Pacific Group and Thomas H. Lee Partners, have agreed to sell 8 million ordinary shares in a block trade.

Endurance, which was originally set up by Aon and Zurich (who has sold its stake) after the Sept. 11 attacks, announced an initial public offering in December 2002. It subsequently sold 9.6 million shares at $23 per share, raising $221 million. At that time the two selling entities each held 19 percent of the company’s shares.

The announcement said that Goldman Sachs & Co. has agreed to purchase the ordinary shares from Texas Pacific and Thomas H. Lee and will subsequently sell them to public investors. At its current market price of around $36.50 per share that would make the deal worth $292 million.

“The ordinary shares are being offered under Endurance’s Form S-3 shelf registration statement and represent approximately 13 percent of the ordinary shares outstanding,” said the bulletin.

Endurance will not receive any proceeds from the sale. It added that upon comletion of the transaction, “all of the initial investors in Endurance will own a total of approximately 32 percent of Endurance’s ordinary shares.”