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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Eugene G. Ballard
Senior Vice President -
Chief Financial Officer
and Treasurer
203-629-3000
W.R. BERKLEY CORPORATION REALIGNS
INSURANCE OPERATING COMPANIES
GREENWICH, CT, SEPTEMBER 26, 2000 -- W. R. BERKLEY CORPORATION (NASDAQ:
BKLY) today announced a series of internal reorganizations, including name and
management changes, designed to focus the Company's reinsurance business and to
enhance the delivery of expertise to clients and brokers.
The new organizational plan calls for Signet Star Reinsurance Company
to be renamed Berkley Insurance Company and become the lead insurance operating
company of the Berkley Group. W.R. Berkley Corporation will contribute the stock
of Berkley Regional Insurance Company, the holding company for Berkley's
regional insurance businesses, to the newly named Berkley Insurance Company.
This contribution will increase Berkley Insurance Company's statutory
policyholders' surplus from $300 million to approximately $600 million. The
contribution will have no impact on the operations of the regional companies,
which will continue under their current management team.
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William R. Berkley, Chairman and President of W.R. Berkley Corporation,
commented: "This reorganization will reinforce our commitment to the reinsurance
sector and will focus our resources on segments of the reinsurance business that
provide the highest return. In today's insurance market, particularly in the
reinsurance sector, size has become even more critical in achieving market
acceptability. This ownership realignment of our businesses creates an
enterprise with significantly increased capital that will achieve that
acceptability and enhance our ability to quickly seize new business
opportunities."
The reinsurance operations of Berkley Insurance Company will be
organized into three underwriting management enterprises. These enterprises will
include Signet Star Treaty Reinsurance Managers, Facultative ReSources, Inc. and
Fidelity and Surety Reinsurance Managers, all of which will underwrite
reinsurance on behalf of Berkley Insurance Company.
Edward Norris, President of Signet Star Reinsurance Company, will be
promoted to Senior Vice President of W.R. Berkley Corporation with
responsibility for all reinsurance operations. In addition, Mr. Norris will
establish a new affiliate, which will form strategic relationships with managing
general underwriters who focus on underwriting specialty coverages.
Signet Star Treaty Reinsurance Managers will continue to refocus the
Company's treaty reinsurance operations primarily on excess of loss business
with a further emphasis on the specialty segment of the marketplace. The
President of this new underwriting unit will be Craig Johnson, who recently
joined the Company. Mr. Johnson, the former President of Core Insurance
Holdings, Inc., brings broad reinsurance experience and knowledge to his new
position.
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Facultative Resources, Inc. and the Fidelity and Surety Reinsurance
Managers will continue to be managed by Messrs. James W. McCleary and Roger J.
Bassi, respectively.
J. Michael Foley, the President of Berkley's Midwest Employers Casualty
Company, which currently writes excess workers' compensation for alternative
markets, will expand his responsibilities to include alternative market
reinsurance written on a direct basis or through retail agents. Alternative
market reinsurance business offered by traditional reinsurance intermediaries
will continue to be handled primarily by Signet Star Treaty Reinsurance
Managers.
This realignment is subject to insurance regulatory approvals. W.R.
Berkley Corporation is a holding company which, through its subsidiaries,
operates in all segments of the property and casualty insurance business. The
Company's operating units are grouped for management purposes into five segments
according to market served: Regional Property Casualty Insurance, Reinsurance,
Specialty Insurance, Alternative Markets and International.
This is a "safe harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements contained herein, including those
related to the Company's performance for the year 2000 and beyond, are based
upon the Company's historical performance and on current plans, estimates and
expectations. They are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including but
not limited to the impact of competition, product demand and pricing, claims
development, catastrophe and storm losses, investment results, legislative and
regulatory developments and other risks detailed from time to time in the
Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risks could
cause the Company's actual results for the 2000 fiscal year and beyond to differ
materially form those expressed in any forward-looking statement made by or
behalf of the Company. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on
which they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly
or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information,
future developments or otherwise.
