Southern Insurance Company to Act as Servicing Insurer for New Mexico FAIR Plan

The Republic Group announced that Southern Insurance Co. has been selected by the Governing Committee of the New Mexico Property Insurance Program to act as servicing insurer for the New Mexico FAIR Plan for a three-year period beginning Jan. 1, 2009.

The New Mexico FAIR Plan is a not-for-profit underwriting association that provides property insurance to qualified applicants in New Mexico who are unable to secure such insurance in the normal insurance market. Approximately 10,000 dwelling fire and commercial property policies with premiums of approximately $3.7 million currently written for the program by Audubon Insurance Co. will be transferred to Southern.

Under the terms of the transaction, Southern will offer a renewal policy to each qualified commercial policyholder who re-applies to the program and to each qualified dwelling fire policyholder upon the expiration of the existing policy term. Existing policies will transfer to Southern during 2009. In addition, new qualified business applications will be submitted to Southern during the three-year period. All of the business is 100 percent reinsured by the program.

“This transaction helps solidify our commitment to the people of New Mexico and is consistent with our objective of balancing insurance risk with fee-based income to enhance return-on-equity,” said Parker W. Rush, Southern Insurance CEO.

Republic Companies Inc. provides personal and commercial property and casualty insurance products through a group of insurance companies and related entities designated in the industry as “The Republic Group”. In its Independent Agents segments, Republic distributes these products to individuals and small- to medium-size businesses through a network of independent agents primarily in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Mississippi and Arkansas.

Source: Republic Companies Inc.