After raising more than $1 billion through a private placement of its equity securities, Ironshore Inc will begin underwriting specialty lines of insurance immediately through its Bermuda-based insurance subsidiary Ironshore Insurance Ltd. The company says the newlyformed global insurance company was created in response to the crisis conditions in the US property catastrophe insurance markets, a result of unprecedented hurricane activity in recent years and subsequent changes in the insurance industry that make such coverage capital intensive and much more costly.

Initially, Ironshore will write a worldwide book of property business. Because of marketplace demands, the company says its initial focus will be on commercial risks with wind exposures in the catastrophe-prone coastal states such as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas, as well as the Caribbean and Yucatan Peninsula. Ironshore will also provide commercial earthquake coverage in California.