In a joint announcement this morning, two Bermuda companies–Max Capital Group and IPC Holdings–said they have agreed to join together, with the boards of both companies unanimously having approved an “amalgamation agreement.”

“This is not a transaction about expense savings, but [one] about growth and long-term value creation for our collective shareholders,” said W. Marston Becker, chairman and chief executive officer of Max Capital, a specialty insurance and reinsurance company created in 2002, during a conference call this morning.

IPC President and CEO James Bryce, explaining one impetus of the deal from the perspective of his company–a monoline property-catastrophe reinsurer that has been in existence for more than 16 years–said that after a trio of hurricanes in 2005 (Katrina, Rita, and Wilma), “it became apparent…that the monoline business model would make it difficult to build and sustain value for [IPC] shareholders over the long term.”