Maiden Holdings Announces Exchange of Warrants With Founding Shareholders

Sep 20, 2010

HAMILTON, Bermuda, Sept. 20, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Maiden Holdings, Ltd. ("Maiden") (Nasdaq:MHLD) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with its founding shareholders, Michael Karfunkel, George Karfunkel and Barry Zyskind, to exchange all of the outstanding warrants held by them for restricted Maiden common shares.

The outstanding warrants, which entitle the holders to purchase 4,050,000 Maiden common shares, were issued June 7, 2007 with an exercise price of $10.00 per share, an expiration date of June 7, 2017 and a three-year lock-up period that expired on June 7, 2010. The founding shareholders will receive an aggregate of 1,800,000 Maiden common shares in exchange for the warrants. The shares issued will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933 and will be subject to a three-year lock-up expiring on September 20, 2013. As of September 17, 2010, Maiden had 70,305,511 common shares outstanding, exclusive of the common shares to be issued in connection with this exchange.

The terms of the exchange were negotiated and unanimously approved by the Audit and Compensation Committees of the Board of Directors. In connection with its review, the Committees were advised by independent legal counsel and obtained an independent appraisal of the fair value of the warrants and the restricted common shares.

The Board of Directors and the Audit and Compensation Committees believe that, given current relatively low valuation levels for the industry overall, this exchange is fair and in the best long term interest of the common shareholders.

About Maiden Holdings, Ltd.

Maiden Holdings, Ltd. is a Bermuda-based holding company formed in 2007. Through our subsidiaries which are each A- rated (excellent) by A.M. Best, we are focused on providing non-catastrophic, customized reinsurance products and services, to small and mid-size insurance companies in the United States and Europe. As of March 31, 2010, the company had $2.7 billion in assets and total capital of $925 million including shareholders' equity of $710 million.

The Maiden Holdings, Ltd. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=5006

MHLD - G

Forward Looking Statements

This release contains "forward-looking statements" which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on the Company. There can be no assurance that actual developments will be those anticipated by the Company. Actual results may differ materially from those projected as a result of significant risks and uncertainties, including non-receipt of the expected payments, changes in interest rates, effect of the performance of financial markets on investment income and fair values of investments, developments of claims and the effect on loss reserves, accuracy in projecting loss reserves, the impact of competition and pricing environments, changes in the demand for the Company's products, the effect of general economic conditions, adverse state and federal legislation, regulations and regulatory investigations into industry practices, developments relating to existing agreements, heightened competition, changes in pricing environments, and changes in asset valuations. Additional information about these risks and uncertainties, as well as others that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected is contained in Item 1A. Risk Factors in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 as updated in periodic filings with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.

CONTACT: Maiden Holdings, Ltd.
         Ellen Taylor
         856.359.2573
         irelations@maiden.bm

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