Ohio Casualty officially joins the Liberty Mutual agency family

With $7.3 billion in premium, Liberty Mutual Agency Markets now largest regional independent agency.

Boston-based insurance giant Liberty Mutual Group is now the largest regional provider of property and casualty insurance distributed through independent agents in the country.

The insurer finalized its acquisition of Ohio Casualty Corp. on Aug. 24 and is realigning its $5.9 billion net premium regional agency organization to make room for Ohio Casualty and its $1.4 billion in premium.

The transaction, valued at $2.7 billion, strengthened Liberty Mutual’s agency presence in Midwestern and Atlantic states.

“The addition of Ohio Casualty enhances the scale and geographic diversification of our Agency Markets business unit while strengthening the overall Liberty Mutual Group,” said Edmund F. Kelly, Liberty Mutual Group chairman, president and chief executive officer, in a statement. “This is an excellent fit for us and further demonstrates our commitment to independent agents and their customers.”

Based on 2006 results compiled by A.M. Best Co., the combined $7.3 billion in net written premium makes Liberty Mutual’s Agency Market division the largest regional provider of property and casualty products sold through independent agents in the country. Consolidated net written premium for the entire Liberty Mutual Group including its sizable direct writing business in 2006 was $20.6 billion.

The companies in Liberty Mutual Agency Markets have more than 6,800 employees and approximately 6,500 appointed agencies. Ohio Casualty has about 2,100 employees and operations in 48 states and approximately 3,400 appointed agencies.

Ohio Casualty Corp. is the holding company of The Ohio Casualty Insurance Co. and five property and casualty insurance companies (The Ohio Casualty Insurance Co., West American Insurance Co., American Fire and Casualty Co., Ohio Security Insurance Co., Avomark Insur-ance Co. and Ohio Casualty of New Jersey Inc.).

The acquisition resulted in a slight realignment of the Agency Markets insurers in order to take advantage of Ohio Casualty’s strength in Midwest and Atlantic states.

Ohio Casualty will retain its name and cover Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washing-ton, D.C., and West Virginia.

Hawkeye-Security Insurance operations will be split between America First Insurance and Indiana Insurance. Headquar-tered in Iowa, Hawkeye-Security sold personal lines in Iowa, Kan-sas, Missouri, and Wisconsin and commercial insurance in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Wisconsin.

The Pennsylvania business insured by its Northeast regional company Peerless will be moved to Ohio Casualty.

The resulting line-up of Agency Markets companies and their states is:

America First Insurance: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas

Indiana Insurance: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin

Montgomery Insurance: Ala-bama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee

Ohio Casualty: Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washing-ton, D.C., and West Virginia

Peerless Insurance: Connecti-cut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Colorado Casualty, Golden Eagle Insurance and Liberty Northwest will continue to operate in their current territories: Colorado Casualty in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming; Golden Eagle Insurance in California; and Liberty Northwest in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington.

The specialty lines operations of Liberty Mutual Agency Markets and Ohio Casualty will be combined into the Specialty Products Group.

Liberty Mutual Agency Markets also includes Wausau Insurance Companies, a national commercial property and casualty insurer; and Summit Holding Southeast Inc., a mono-line workers’ compensation insurer covering Florida and nine Southeastern states.

Several executive appointments were made related to the acquisition. Dan Carmichael, president and chief executive of Ohio Casualty, will stay on with Liberty Mutual Agency Markets as an executive consultant to President Gary Gregg. David Lancaster is now president and chief executive officer of Indiana Insurance; Michael Winner was named president and chief executive officer of Ohio Casualty; and John Busby was named senior vice president and chief operating officer, Specialty Products Group.

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