HOUSTON, Aug. 3, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:HCC) announced today that the Company had reached an agreement to acquire the assets of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America's Health Products Division for a cash consideration of $140 million. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the third quarter 2006 subject to regulatory approval.
The Health Products Division is a health insurance operation located in Minneapolis, Minnesota and is one of the leading providers of excess medical insurance (stop loss) for self insured corporations and groups; excess insurance for HMOs; provider excess for integrated delivery systems; excess medical reinsurance to small and regional insurance carriers; and Life Trac, a network for providing organ and bone marrow transplants. The Health Products Division has been in operation for 30 years and currently writes more than $300 million in annual gross premium.
"We are pleased to have reached an agreement with HCC," said Douglas P. Reynolds, President and Chief Operating Officer of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America. "This transaction will provide tremendous value for HCC and will give Allianz Life the opportunity to focus on our core businesses."
Stephen L. Way, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HCC, commenting on the transaction said, "We saw a tremendous opportunity to grow our already significant medical stop loss business and expand our product line by acquiring one of the recognized service leaders in the industry." Mr. Way added, "With this transaction and HCC Life Insurance Company's strong industry position, we believe we can improve the margins of both the business acquired and our existing account."
HCC has an important leadership position in the medical stop loss industry and following this transaction, its subsidiary HCC Life will write more than $750 million in annual premiums, covering more than 15 million lives for health insurance. For more information see the HCC Life website at www.hcclife.com.
HCC is an international insurance holding company and a leading specialty insurance group since 1974, based in Houston, Texas with offices across the USA and in Bermuda, England and Spain. HCC has assets exceeding $7 billion and is rated AA (Very Strong) by Standard & Poor's and A+ (Superior) by A. M. Best Company.
For more information, visit our website at www.hcc.com.
The HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. logo is available at http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=1977
Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made under "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The types of risks and uncertainties which may affect the Company are set forth in its periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.