Liberty Mutual Agency Corp. expects to raise about $1.2 billionthrough an initial public offering, according to a filing with theU.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The stock will be traded under the NASDAQ symbol LMAC.

LMAC–a unit of Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group–said it wouldoffer 64.3 million shares for between $18 and $20 per share. Ifdemand is great, up to six million more shares could beoffered.

LMAC consists of all of the operations conducted by LibertyMutual's Agency Markets unit, comprised of property and casualtyand specialty insurance carriers that distribute products andservices through independent agents and brokers.

The stock offering is divided into two classes.

o Class A shares of common stock included in the offering wouldhave one vote per share.

o Class B common stock shares will be entitled to 10 votes pershare, according to the filing. Class B shares will be owned byLiberty Mutual Holding Company Inc., whose status as a mutualholding company will be unaffected by the offering.

LMHC is the parent company of Liberty Mutual Group, which willown about 80 percent of LMAC, with shareholders owning up to 20percent.

Proceeds from the offering will be used to pay down debt, LMACsaid in its filing. The estimated $1.17 billion raised by theoffering is based on $19 per share.

About $268 million will be retained by LMAC for working capital,payments of dividends, debt service and other general purposes, thefiling said.

Based on direct written premiums, Liberty Mutual Group is thefifth-largest p&c insurer in the United States, bolstered bythe recent acquisitions of Safeco Corp. in 2008 and Ohio Casualtyin 2007.

From 2005-2009, Liberty Mutual Group did not record a combinedratio under 100, according to figures from Highline Data (www.highlinedata.com), part ofSummit Business Media, which publishes NationalUnderwriter. The combined ratio was about 103.3 at the end of2009.

During the same span Liberty Mutual Group recorded losses inunderwriting income, with a loss of nearly $659 million in 2009,according to Highline Data.

Net income for the group in 2009 was about $915.9 million,compared with about $2.4 billion in 2008.