EXHIBIT 99.2
PMA CAPITAL CORPORATION [LOGO]
Mellon Bank Center Suite 2800
1735 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103-7590 PRESS RELEASE
For Release: Immediate
Contact: Albert D. Ciavardelli
(215) 665-5063
PMA Capital Declares Shareholder Dividend
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and Announces Additional Share Repurchase Authority
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Annual Dividend Rate Increased 17% to $0.42 per Share and
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$15 Million of Additional Authorization for the Share Repurchase Program
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Philadelphia, PA, August 9, 2000 -- PMA Capital Corporation (NASDAQ: PMACA)
today announced that its Board of Directors declared a regular quarterly
dividend on its Class A Common Stock of $0.105 per share to shareholders of
record on September 11, 2000. The dividend will be paid on October 2, 2000.
The Board also authorized an additional $15 million in share repurchase
authority bringing the total available for share buyback to $26.9 million as of
August 9, 2000.
In announcing the 17 percent increase in the dividend rate, John W. Smithson,
PMA Capital's President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "At PMA Capital, we
are focused on our overarching goal of enhancing shareholder value. To this end,
we have been successful in building a solid record of performance over the years
by improving our operating income per share every year since 1996. In addition,
through our share repurchase program that has been in place since early 1998, we
have been effective in maintaining the appropriate level of capital for PMA
Capital. As we continue to move the Company forward, we are pleased to reward
the loyalty and commitment of our shareholders with a higher annual dividend of
$0.42 per share."
For the past 84 years, PMA Capital has paid consecutive quarterly dividends to
its shareholders.
PMA Capital Corporation, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an
insurance holding company, whose operating subsidiaries provide specialty risk
management products and services to customers throughout the United States. The
primary product lines of PMA Capital's subsidiaries include: 1) property and
casualty reinsurance, underwritten and marketed through PMA Re; 2) managed care
workers' compensation, integrated disability and other commercial property and
casualty lines of insurance in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern regions of the
United States, underwritten and marketed under the trade name The PMA Insurance
Group; and 3) excess and surplus lines coverages, underwritten and marketed by
Caliber One.
