St. Paul Travelers Renamed Travelers

The St. Paul Travelers Companies Inc. said today it will change its name to The Travelers Companies Inc.

The St. Paul-based company also said it has reacquired the red umbrella trademark for an undisclosed price. The highly recognizable mark represented Travelers for decades, including the several years it was part of Citigroup, from which it purchased rights to the symbol.

After the closing of the transaction expected late next month, the company will change its name to The Travelers Companies Inc. and will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the new stock symbol "TRV." The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.

"The red umbrella is one of the great American business icons," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jay Fishman during a conference call this morning. "Bringing back the umbrella and changing the company name will further advance the highly regarded Travelers brand."

The umbrella is believed to have first appeared as an illustration of insurance protection in a Travelers ad in 1870, and the red umbrella became the official company trademark in 1959.

A decision by Citigroup to pursue a unified global brand identity allowed Travelers to regain the familiar insurance industry icon, which continues to be most closely identified with Travelers.

"We're pleased to be bringing the reassuring red umbrella back home to Travelers as part of our focused efforts to continue building the Travelers brand for home, auto and business insurance customers," said Mr. Fishman.

He said recent research indicated that the umbrella had the kind of brand recognition "that we could only dream of."

The company expects to allocate the purchase price principally to the umbrella trademark, which will be recorded as an asset and is not subject to amortization for accounting purposes.

Accordingly, the company will not record a charge to earnings upon closing of the transaction.