Berkshire Hathaway Plans to Buy Portion of Kemper Business

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. plans to buy a portion of Kemper Insurance Companies’ business.

Berkshire will buy an undisclosed equity stake in the commercial casualty and specialty insurance business of privately held Kemper, through a new insurance subsidiary set up by Kemper. Berkshire will also reinsure some of Kemper’s business.

No terms of the deal were disclosed. Kemper earlier reported a $54.5 million after-tax profit in the first quarter, up from $19.4 million a year ago. It has annual revenues of about $5.9 billion.

The transaction must be met by appropriate regulatory approval.