Cox, the troubled Lloyd's insurer, is restructuring itself to draw a line under huge losses from the 11 September attacks and its commercial book.

The group plans a placing and open offer of share ...

Cox, the troubled Lloyd's insurer, is restructuring itself to draw a line under huge losses from the 11 September attacks and its commercial book.

The group plans a placing and open offer of shares to raise £70m.

In addition, it has signed a deal with Lloyd's that could lead to it selling off subsidiaries to keep profitable parts of the business running.

The agreement isolates its corporate member subsidiaries, leaving them with the debts of the past.

Losses fromWTC alone have been projected at £75m to £125m.

One subsidiary, Cox Dedicated Corporate Member, accounts for more than 90% of the subsidiaries' assets.

Its shares and bonds could be sold to pay off the debts.

Cox chief executive Michael Dawson said: "If someone said that was the right thing to do, we would certainly talk to them."

But he said the group would try to rescue some of the companies' assets and "ultimately return something to shareholders."

Dawson said Cox's subsidiaries contained enough assets to cover the losses. They were solvent and are projected to remain so.

Cox is pulling out of writing commercial lines, which had recently brought in about £150m of premium and accounted for about 20% of the group's business.

Dawson said: "We tried bloody hard to get the commercial lines side right but it hasn't got right.

"We had pushed through significant improvements. Last year we were running a 92.5% combined ratio for commercial, but then the World Trade Centre disaster came along. Frankly it has taken us by surprise and it's been an anxious six months."

Venture capitalists Warburg Pincus and Palamon Capital, which together own 35% of Cox and have seats on the board, will buy an equivalent share in the offer.

The remaining 65% of shares are intended to be sold to institutional investors and existing shareholders.

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