White Mountains Completes Its Purchase of Sirius

NU Online News Service, April 19, 1:45 p.m.EDT?Bermuda-based insurer White Mountains Insurance Groupsaid it has completed its previously reported purchase of SiriusInsurance Group, a Swedish insurance and reinsurance unit ofZurich, Switzerland-based manufacturing giant ABB Ltd.[@@]

The purchase, first announced last December, is reported to havecost $425 million. Sirius employs some 200 workers at its threemajor units: Sweden-based Sirius International, Sirius America andScandinavian Reinsurance.

White Mountains' chief executive Ray Barrette, commenting on thelatest acquisition, had said the purchase of Sirius "leverages allthe strengths of the White Mountains organization."

"We are adding a nice business to our family ofproperty-casualty insurance and reinsurance companies," Mr.Barrette said, "and the transaction adds significant value for ourshareholders."

Another benefit of bringing Sirius into the White Mountain groupof companies, according to Mr. Barrette, is that Sirius has beenfocusing on property and other short-tailed lines of business,"allowing them to avoid most of the legacy issues that otherinternational reinsurance companies are facing today."

For 2003, White Mountains reported net income of $281 million,compared with $748 million in 2002. Revenues for 2003 were reportedat some $3.8 billion, compared with $4.2 billion posted during2002.