“Insurance rates, which were already hardening before the tragic events of 11 September, have increased significantly in almost all classes since that date and policy terms are being tightened.” Amlin has managed capacity of £575m at Lloyd’s, specialising in aviation, direct marine, property, casualty and commercial motor.In October, Amlin agreed a £100m credit facility with a major US shareholder, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, to help increase the capacity of its Syndicate 2001 by 39 per cent to £800m next year.. Comcast was savouring victory yesterday in the long-running struggle for control of AT&T’s cable interests with the announcement of a merger worth $72bn (£50bn) to create America’s largest cable company with more than 22 million customers across the country. His company quietly backed Comcast, in which it holds a 10 per cent stake, in its quest to win AT&T Broadband. Microsoft agreed, as part of the deal, to convert $5bn in debt it lent to AT&T into equity in the new company, to be called AT&T Comcast.With a headquarters in Philadelphia, AT&T Comcast will have cable subscribers in 17 of the country’s 20 largest metropolitan areas and a presence in 41 states.It will be much bigger than its nearest rival, AOL Time Warner, which has about 12.7 million cable subscribers.The new company – and behind it, Mr Gates – will have a direct line into one-fifth of US homes, capable of delivering far more than just television programming. The company will look to offer high-speed internet access, telephone connections in some areas and, over time, next-generation services like interactive television.Michael Armstrong, currently the chairman of AT&T, will move sideways to become the first chairman of AT&T Comcast, instead of retiring in 2003 as he had been planning. Its president will be Brian Roberts, currently the chief executive of Comcast. The Roberts family holds about one-third of Comcast’s voting stock.In a sweetened offer, Comcast offered $47bn in stock to AT&T.

It also agreed to assume $25bn in debt and other AT&T liabilities. Comcast also agreed to acquire AT&T’s 25 per cent stake in Time Warner Entertainment. AT&T shareholders can expect to receive 0.34 shares of the new company for each AT&T share they own.The markets yesterday applauded AT&T’s choice. The company’s shares soared $1.57 a share, or 9.3 per cent, to $18.37 in trading in New York.

Comcast shares, however, fell $2.29, or 6 per cent, to $35.80 a share on the Nasdaq.The battle began almost five months ago, when Mr Roberts launched a hostile bid for AT&T Broadband. He was immediately spurned but it forced the AT&T board to put its cable division in play.The deal includes an unusually radical break-up clause. If either side decides between now and closing to walk away from the marriage, they will be forced to pay the other side $1.5bn. AT&T’s chief financial officer, Chuck Noski, said yesterday he did not see that happening.. Eurotunnel’s French chief executive has been ousted, after just nine months in the job, following a boardroom clash with the group’s British chairman. He is being replaced by another Briton, Eurotunnel’s finance director, Richard Shirrefs.Eurotunnel yesterday said that the removal of Mr Lazare, who joined the group after spells with Air France and the car maker Peugeot, resulted from “a difference of views on the management of the company”.Insiders denied that his departure had anything to do with the crisis earlier this year at Eurotunnel over asylum-seekers gaining illegal entry to Britain by jumping on board lorries and car shuttles at its Sangatte terminal near Calais.It was said that Mr Lazare had been “over-promoted” and was not up to the job. Insiders also claimed that there was a “lack of chemistry” not only between Mr Lazare and his fellow board members but also between the chief executive and other senior managers.Mr Lazare was brought in as managing director of Eurotunnel in October last year and promoted to the job of chief executive four months later following the unexpected departure of the executive chairman, Patrick Ponsolle, to Morgan Stanley.”Let’s put it this way, he didn’t appoint himself to the job We did and it didn’t work out There are no skeletons in the cupboard.

It was just a lack of chemistry at the management level,” one source said.Another said that Mr Mackay, the former chief executive of Inchcape and known for his forceful personality, lost patience with Mr Lazare.Eurotunnel’s non-executive directors, who include the former Belgian premier Baron Guy de Wouters, Lord Tugendhat, the chairman of Virgin Trains, Chris Green and the managing director of Arsenal Football Club, Keith Edelman, were called to a board meeting on Wednesday at which Mr Lazare’s fate was sealed.His removal strengthens the British grip at the top of the company with both the chairman and chief executive now from the UK. Until 14 months ago the top two jobs at Eurotunnel were both filled by Frenchmen.A Eurotunnel spokesman said that the asylum problem was “a red herring” as far as the board changes were concerned.. Tremors reverberated across key emerging market economies yesterday after the Argentinian President Fernando de la Rua resigned heightening fears the economic crisis afflicting the country could undermine investor confidence worldwide. Speculation was mounting that the former star Latin American economy was on the brink of a currency devaluation and would default on its $132bn (£90bn) debt.The worst-hit economy was South Africa, where the rand collapsed by 9 per cent against the dollar It also fell to record lows against the euro and the pound. South Africa’s open economy and relatively liquid markets have been hit hard by contagion effects from Argentina this year even though analysts say its economic fundamentals are sound.The currencies of Australia, New Zealand and Turkey also fell. In Europe share prices of banks with assets or loans in Argentina fell, led by banks in Spain which has traditionally strong links with the Latin American state.But the International Monetary Fund, which is holding back a $1.3bn loan to Argentina, yesterday remained confident any contagion would be limited.The IMF’s first deputy managing director, Anne Krueger, told reporters in Delhi yesterday that contagion had been “amazingly low so far”.Fitch, the credit ratings agency, said mounting social unrest and the resignation of economy minister Domingo Cavallo meant Argentina was likely to default very shortly..