The week's winners
SVB up 20%
Wellington up 16%
Brit up 16.5%

The week's losers
Allianz down 1.6%
Windsor down 2.8%
Aon down 3.3%

Lloyd's came back into favour this week. Bu …

The week's winners
SVB up 20%
Wellington up 16%
Brit up 16.5%

The week's losers
Allianz down 1.6%
Windsor down 2.8%
Aon down 3.3%

Lloyd's came back into favour this week. But while the rise in interest surrounding the market's quoted vehicles will be a relief to some it threw plans into disarray at Kiln.

Only on Monday, the company confirmed earlier reports and announced a placing and open offer of new shares at 47p to raise £48m.

Within 24 hours, the plans appeared to be scuppered after the shares rose on Tuesday morning to 55p.

Rules prohibit companies placing shares at a discount of more than 10% to the prevailing mid-market price, effectively preventing Kiln from going ahead.

The company said some investors had said they would not subscribe to the offer at a higher price anyway.

Kiln's plans were effectively on ice as Insurance Times went to press.

Just days ahead of announcing its final results, it added that its syndicate 510, rather than Kiln plc, was anticipated to make an underwriting profit for the 2001 year of account.

Elsewhere the growth of interest in Lloyd's vehicles shows the impact of the market's recent deal with Cox.

It threw a lifeline to Cox, enabling it to ring-fence its past losses, which may just be the tonic needed to stimulate further interest in the sector.

But for some it could be too little, too late.

While a rise of 20% puts a healthy blip into SVB's shareprice chart, it needs to increase in value by 400% to approach the highs of last year, when it still had a reputation for top class underwriting.

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