Vermont licensed 25 new captive insurance companies in 2018, including one under new legislation designed to help captives that could be caught up in the Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse Tax provisions of the 2017 overhaul of the U.S. tax code, according to the state’s Department of Financial Regulation.

The 25 new licensees raises the state’s total licenses to 1,137, up from 1,112 at the end of 2017 and 1,088 at the end of 2016, according to department data.

The new licenses consisted of 12 pure captives, four risk retention groups, three sponsored captives, two industrial insured captives, two special purpose financial insurers, one branch captive and on affiliated reinsurance company — formed less than a year after Vermont passed legislation establishing this new type of captive structure, according to a statement on Tuesday.

Mapfre Re becomes the first affiliated reinsurance company to form in Vermont and establishes the state as a viable domestic alternative for U.S. companies currently reinsuring offshore and may now be subject to the BEAT Tax included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, according to the department.

But the number of active captives dropped to 558 at the end of 2018, down from 566 active captives at the end of 2017 and 584 at the end of 2016, according to department figures.

The new captives were licensed in health care, insurance, retail, manufacturing, professional services, real estate, entertainment and energy, according to the department. Six new health care captives licensed in 2018, including American Academic Health System LLC, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., Non-Acuity Physicians & Physician Groups, Long-Term Care Facilities, The Crestwood Group and CARE Professional Liability Association LLC.

“The continued growth of hospitals and doctors’ groups forming Vermont captives for medical professional liability coverage has been very positive,” Ian Davis, director of Financial Services, said in a statement. “We are also seeing a considerable amount of interest from midmarket companies and expect both trends to continue in 2019.”