CastlePoint IPO a Success

Bermuda-based CastlePoint Holdings, Ltd. held its initial public offering of 7,682,238 common shares on Friday, March 23. The Company sold 7,562,738 shares and existing shareholders sold 119,500 shares at $14.50 per share. The IPO raised approximately $111 million.

CastlePoint’s shares began trading on the NASDAQ Exchange on Friday under the trading symbol “CPHL”. CastlePoint said it has also “granted the underwriters the option to purchase up to 1,134,410 additional shares to cover over-allotments, if any.”

The New York-based Tower Group Inc. entered into a “strategic relationship” with CastlePoint last year (See IJ web site April 5, 2006). It became the sole shareholder of its subsidiary CastlePoint Re in February after it invested $15 million in the Company. Tower also has an 8.6 percent stake in CastlePoint.