Robert Newhouse

Investors apparently acting on inside knowledge made a killing in the derivatives market on the last day of trading before it was announced that EXEL was buying Mid Ocean, we can reveal. The volume of contracts traded in Mid Ocean call options on the American Stock Exchange increased from an average daily volume of 30 contracts to 950 contracts on Friday, March 13 - two days before the deal was signed and three days before it was announced.

Michael Butt, the 55-year-old president and CEO of Bermuda-based reinsurer Mid Ocean Limited, received a financial package worth $7 million in fiscal 1997, according to the company's latest Proxy Statement filing with the SEC.Butt's remuneration comprised $485,000 in salary, $500,000 as a performance bonus, $209,800 in travel and housing allowances, $53,100 in contributions to his pension plan, a profit of $5.31 million from share options he exercised during the year and a further $417,600 in restricted stock awards that were granted in previous years but which vested during fiscal 1997.