GE and Berkshire Hathaway Announce Sale of Medical Liability Insurer
2005年5月6日 - 8:00PM
ビジネスワイヤ(英語)
General Electric (NYSE:GE) and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK) today
announced that GE Insurance Solutions has entered into a letter of
intent for the sale of Medical Protective Corporation, one of the
nation's premiere professional liability insurers for physicians
and dentists, to National Indemnity, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway.
Under the terms of the letter of intent, National Indemnity will
acquire a 100% ownership of Medical Protective Corporation and its
subsidiaries from GE Insurance Solutions. The transaction, which is
subject to completion of a definitive agreement as well as
regulatory approvals, is expected to close by June 30, 2005. Warren
Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, said: "For more than 100
years, Medical Protective has been the 'gold standard' in
protecting and defending the assets and reputations of healthcare
providers. The Medical Protective team has successfully navigated
through difficult insurance cycles by consistently delivering the
nation's best defense for doctors and solid results for
shareholders. Medical Protective will be a great addition to the
Berkshire Hathaway group of businesses." "We're pleased to work
with Berkshire Hathaway and place an excellent business with great
owners," said GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt. "GE is taking
another step in our plan to reduce our exposure to insurance while
maximizing value for investors; Medical Protective is moving into a
bright future." "This is a tremendous win for Medical Protective
policyholders and the Medical Protective team," said Ron Pressman,
Chairman, President and CEO of GE Insurance Solutions. "Berkshire
Hathaway offers healthcare providers continuity in their medical
professional liability coverage and will provide Medical Protective
opportunities and capital for continued growth." Medical Protective
is based in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and employs approximately 330
people, with 2004 gross written premiums of $737 million, serving
75,000 physicians and dentists. Tim Kenesey will remain as
President and CEO of Medical Protective, the management team will
remain in place, and its principal operations will remain in Ft.
Wayne, Indiana where it was founded in 1899. Kenesey said, "Medical
Protective and our dedicated colleagues across the country have
grown and developed during the seven years of GE ownership. We look
forward to continued profitable growth under the ownership of
Berkshire Hathaway. We see this as a positive step for our doctors
and our other healthcare providers, our agents and our Medical
Protective colleagues." Medical Protective is rated "A" (Strong)
with a Stable Outlook by Standard & Poor's and "A-" (Excellent)
with a Stable Outlook by A.M. Best. More information is available
at www.medicalprotective.com. Berkshire Hathaway and its
subsidiaries engage in a number of diverse business activities
among which the most important is the property and casualty
insurance business conducted on both a direct and reinsurance
basis. Common stock of the Company is listed on the New York Stock
Exchange, trading symbols BRK.A and BRK.B. GE (NYSE: GE) is
Imagination at Work -- a diversified technology, media and
financial services company focused on solving some of the world's
toughest problems. With products and services ranging from aircraft
engines, power generation, water processing and security technology
to medical imaging, business and consumer financing, media content
and advanced materials. GE serves customers in more than 100
countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. For more
information, visit the company's Web site at www.ge.com. Caution
Concerning Forward-Looking Statements 2005 results are preliminary
and quarterly information is unaudited. This document contains
"forward-looking statements" - that is, statements related to
future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking
statements often address our expected future business and financial
performance, and often contain words such as "expects,"
"anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," or "will."
Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that
are, to different degrees, uncertain. For us, particular
uncertainties arise from the behavior of financial markets,
including fluctuations in interest rates and commodity prices, from
future integration of acquired businesses, from future financial
performance of major industries which we serve, including, without
limitation, the air and rail transportation, energy generation,
media, real estate and healthcare industries, from unanticipated
loss development in our insurance businesses, and from numerous
other matters of national, regional and global scale, including
those of a political, economic, business, competitive and
regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future
results to be materially different than those expressed in our
forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update our
forward-looking statements.