Equitas Settles Four Claims for $200M

Equitas Settles Four Claims for $200M

By Steve Tuckey

NU Online News Service, Jan. 6, 2:24 p.m. EDT?In the last weeks of 2004 Equitas said it settled four major policyholders' claims against certain underwriters at Lloyd's related to asbestos and other liabilities policies.[@@]

The settlements total over $200 million. One of the agreements involves the Toledo, Ohio-based auto parts manufacturer Dana Corporation and resolves one of the largest three remaining direct liabilities that Equitas faces.

Equitas spokesman Jon Nash said confidentiality clauses precluded the naming of the other three claimants who have settled.

And he declined to name the two remaining claimants. "Commercially it does not make sense to put the other two names in the public domain," he said.

Earlier in 2004, Equitas settled with major policyholders including Halliburton, Hercules and Enpro.

London-based Equitas was established to reinsure and run off the 1992 and prior years' non-life liabilities of Names, or underwriters, at Lloyd's.