American Overseas Group Limited was formed in Bermuda in 1998. Initially, the Company conducted all of its operations through American Overseas Reinsurance Company Limited which was also formed in Bermuda in 1998. AORE operated as a mono-line financial guarantee reinsurance company for approximately ten years. AORE’s insured par peaked at $48.7 billion in early 2008. In connection with the financial crisis, AORE ceased writing financial guarantee business and entered voluntary run-off in early 2009. By the end of 2012 insured par had declined to $9.2 billion, at which time AORE re-domesticated to Barbados and emerged from run-off as a Property & Casualty reinsurance company.
In October 2014 AOG acquired Orpheus Group Ltd. Orpheus is a specialty writer of non-standard auto business in the U.S. In addition, at the time, Orpheus provided specialty risk transfer, reinsurance and management services through its operating subsidiaries in the U.S., Bermuda and Barbados. Orpheus derived the vast majority of its income from management fees earned in connection with providing these services. The acquisition completed the Company’s transition to a Property & Casualty insurance holding company. Following the acquisition, the Company had 41 employees in Bermuda and the U.S.
Since 2014 AOG has taken numerous steps to streamline its operations and company footprint, culminating in the elimination of redundancies in its holding company structure and the dissolution of its former Financial Guaranty reinsurer in Barbados American Overseas Re. Today, AOG through its U.S. operating insurance companies and service company focus solely on underwriting and servicing non standard personal automobile property and casualty policies in the U.S.