HAMILTON, Bermuda, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited ("Aspen") (NYSE:AHL)(BSX:AHLBSX:BH) announced today that two of its shareholders, The Blackstone Group and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, have agreed to sell 5,707,623 ordinary shares of Aspen and 2,219,665 ordinary shares of Aspen, respectively, in an underwritten public offering at a price to the public of $26.70 per share. Following the completion of the offering, The Blackstone Group and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, a private equity investment affiliate of Credit Suisse, will own 5,707,625 ordinary shares of Aspen and 2,219,668 ordinary shares of Aspen, respectively. Lehman Brothers is acting as the sole book-running manager for the offering. Aspen will not receive any proceeds from the sale of ordinary shares by The Blackstone Group and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners. The ordinary shares are being sold pursuant to Aspen's effective shelf registration statement previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A prospectus supplement relating to the ordinary shares offering will be filed with the Securities Exchange Commission. When available, a written prospectus for the offering meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, may be obtained from Lehman Brothers by contacting Lehman Brothers, c/o ADP Financial Services, Prospectus Fulfillment, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, email: , fax: 631-254-7268. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. Any offering of ordinary shares will be made only by means of a written prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. About Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited was established in June 2002. Aspen is a Bermudian holding company that provides property and casualty reinsurance in the global market, property and liability insurance principally in the United Kingdom and the United States and specialty insurance and reinsurance consisting mainly of marine and energy and aviation worldwide. Aspen's operations are conducted through its wholly-owned subsidiaries located in London, Bermuda and the United States: Aspen Insurance UK Limited, Aspen Insurance Limited and Aspen Specialty Insurance Company. Aspen has four operating segments: property reinsurance, casualty reinsurance, specialty insurance and reinsurance and property and casualty insurance. Aspen's principal existing founding shareholders include The Blackstone Group, Candover Partners Limited and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, a private equity investment affiliate of Credit Suisse. For more information about Aspen, please visit Aspen's website at http://www.aspen.bm/. Application of the Safe Harbor of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains, and Aspen's earnings conference call may contain, written or oral "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws. These statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include all statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts, and can be identified by the use of words such as "expect," "intend," "plan," "believe," "project," "anticipate," "seek," "will," "estimate," "may," "continue," and similar expressions of a future or forward-looking nature. All forward-looking statements address matters that involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. Aspen believes these factors include, but are not limited to: the impact that our future operating results, capital position and rating agency and other considerations have on the execution of any capital management initiatives; the impact of any capital management activities on our financial condition; the impact of acts of terrorism and related legislation and acts of war; the possibility of greater frequency or severity of claims and loss activity, including as a result of natural or man-made catastrophic events such as Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, than our underwriting, reserving or investment practices have anticipated; evolving interpretive issues with respect to coverage as a result of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma; the level of inflation in repair costs due to limited availability of labor and materials after catastrophes; the effectiveness of Aspen's loss limitation methods; changes in the availability, cost or quality of reinsurance or retrocessional coverage, which may affect our decision to purchase such coverage; the reliability of, and changes in assumptions to, catastrophe pricing, accumulation and estimated loss models; loss of key personnel; a decline in our operating subsidiaries' ratings with Standard & Poor's, A.M. Best Company or Moody's Investors Service; changes in general economic conditions including inflation, foreign currency exchange rates, interest rates and other factors that could affect our investment portfolio; the number and type of insurance and reinsurance contracts that we wrote at the January 1st and other renewal periods in 2007 and the premium rates available at the time of such renewals within our targeted business lines; increased competition on the basis of pricing, capacity, coverage terms or other factors; decreased demand for Aspen's insurance or reinsurance products and cyclical downturn of the industry; changes in governmental regulations, interpretations or tax laws in jurisdictions where Aspen conducts business; proposed and future changes to insurance laws and regulations, including with respect to U.S. state- and other government-sponsored reinsurance funds and primary insurers; Aspen or its Bermudian subsidiary becoming subject to income taxes in the United States or the United Kingdom; the effect on insurance markets, business practices and relationships of ongoing litigation, investigations and regulatory activity by the New York State Attorney General's office and other authorities concerning contingent commission arrangements with brokers and bid solicitation activities; the total industry losses resulting from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma and the actual number of Aspen's insureds incurring losses from these storms; and with respect to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma, Aspen's continued reliance on loss reports received from cedants and loss adjustors, Aspen's reliance on industry loss estimates and those generated by modeling techniques, the impact of these storms on Aspen's reinsurers, any changes in Aspen's reinsurers' credit quality, the amount and timing of reinsurance recoverables and reimbursements actually received by Aspen from its reinsurers and the overall level of competition and the related demand and supply dynamics as contracts come up for renewal. For a more detailed description of these uncertainties and other factors, please see the "Risk Factors" section in Aspen's Annual Reports on Form 10-K as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Aspen undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward- looking statements, which speak only as of the dates on which they are made. DATASOURCE: Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited CONTACT: Investor Contact: Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited - Noah Fields, Head of Investor Relations, +1-441-297-9382; or Tania Kerno, Head of Communications, +44-(0)-20-7184-8855; or European Press Contact: Brian Hudspith of The Maitland Consultancy, +44-(0)-20-7379-5151; or North American Press Contact: Eliza Johnson of Abernathy MacGregor, +1-212-371-5999

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