Midland Company Withdraws Stock Offering

The Cincinnati-based Midland Company announced that it is withdrawing the registration statement relating to a proposed secondary offering of its common stock.

Midland had filed the required documents on July 17 covering the proposed sale of 2,450,000 shares of its common stock. 2,000,000 shares were to be offered by the company and 450,000 shares to by selling stockholders, but the decline in equity values since that date apparently caused the company to decide to withdraw the shares.

“Earlier this summer, advantageous market conditions for property and casualty insurance companies and small- to mid-capitalization value stocks made it logical for Midland to consider raising capital through the sale of stock,” commented Joseph P. Hayden III, Midland’s chairman. “However, recent dynamics in the financial markets since we announced our stock offering, make the decision to withdraw the registration statement appropriate at this time.”

Midland and its subsidiary American Modern Insurance Group specialize in writing physical damage insurance and related coverages on manufactured housing. It also offers specialty insurance products, “including coverage for site-built homes, motorcycles, watercraft, snowmobiles, recreational vehicles, physical damage on long-haul trucks, extended service contracts, credit life and related products as well as collateral protection and mortgage fire products sold to financial institutions and their customers,” said the company’s announcement

Hayden indicated that while “a stock offering would have enhanced our already strong financial position, and would have further increased the liquidity of our stock, the timing simply is not right.” He said that despite some market trends that indicate a weakening in the company’s anticipated returns, and some higher than anticipated losses, the additional capital was not a necessity at this time, as Midland’s capitalization and balance sheet are essentially very strong.