Acquires Fund Management Unit

Hiscox PLC
04 September 2002

HISCOX ACQUIRES FUND MANAGEMENT UNIT OF FOX-PITT, KELTON GROUP LIMITED


Hiscox plc announced today that it has acquired the specialist fund management
business of Eldon Capital Management Limited, a subsidiary of Fox-Pitt, Kelton
Group Limited, for an undisclosed cash sum. No net assets are being acquired.
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to complete
on 30 September 2002.


This acquisition will double the third party funds Hiscox currently manages
through its Hiscox Investment Management Limited subsidiary, taking the total
third party funds under management to £120million. These funds are in addition
to the £650 million which Hiscox Investment Management supervises on behalf of
the Hiscox Group.


Hiscox and Fox-Pitt, Kelton have a long standing business relationship and have
entered into a three year brokerage and research agreement to draw on FPK's
acknowledged expertise and research in the financial sector.


Robert Hiscox, Chairman of Hiscox plc said, 'This strategic acquisition builds
on the success of Hiscox Investment Management and doubles our third party funds
under management. We see a bright future in the current economic environment to
expand our range of specialist financial funds to take advantage of our
expertise in these niche areas of investment'.


Anthony Hamilton, Chairman of Fox-Pitt, Kelton Group Limited said, 'The Hiscox
Group is an excellent home for the Eldon funds and we anticipate that its
specialised focus will flourish there, to continue the strong performance
record'.




FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Robert Hiscox, Chairman                              Hiscox plc                         020 7448 6011
[e-mail]
Bronek Masojada, Chief Executive                     Hiscox plc                         020 7448 6012
[e-mail]
Suzanne Bartch                                       The Maitland Consultancy           020 7379 5151
[e-mail]




NOTES TO EDITORS:


Hiscox Investment Management Ltd


Hiscox Investment Management Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hiscox plc. It
supervises funds for the Hiscox Group and for third parties. It's principal
third party fund is the Hiscox Insurance Portfolio (HIP) Fund.


The HIP Fund is a specialist fund investing in a focused portfolio of quoted
international insurance shares. The HIP Fund started in October 1998 and has
risen by +18% to 30 August 2002 compared with a fall in the FTSE100 Index of
-17% and a fall in its benchmark, the Datastream World Insurance Index, over the
same period of -12%. The manager attributes the success of the Fund to an
internal research driven process which has enabled it to be concentrated in 30
stocks. With the international insurance sector in a strong upward trend, the
Fund is heavily weighted to property/casualty insurance companies with strong
balance sheets and a proven expertise in underwriting. This has resulted in the
Fund being 80% invested in the property/casualty sector and 75% of the Fund
being located in the USA.


Fox Pitt, Kelton Group Limited


Fox-Pitt, Kelton is an international investment bank, founded in 1971, focused
exclusively on the financial services industry. It is a wholly owned subsidiary
of Swiss Re, the major international AAA rated reinsurance company. Fox-Pitt,
Kelton's Eldon business has funds under management of £50million, in four
specialist financial sector funds.


The FPK Far Eastern Financial Fund and the FPK European Financial Fund have
outperformed their financial sector benchmarks by over 50% to 30 August 2002
since their launches in December 1996 and March 1993 respectively, whilst the
FPK U.S. Financial Fund has outperformed the S&P 500 by over 100% to 30 August
2002 since its launch in November 1994.


Benchmark Indices

Datastream Asia ex Japan Financials Index

Datastream European Financials Index


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange                 AEEE