Guard: Sale will create jobs at insurance company [The Citizens’ Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.]

Oct. 25--The sale of Guard Insurance Group in Wilkes-Barre to a unit of billionaire Warren Buffet'sBerkshire Hathaway will mean growth and additional jobs, the company's chief operating officer said today.

Clal U.S. Holdings, which owns Guard Insurance Group, was sold to Nebraska-based National Indemnity Co. for $221 million, according to a report from Clal to the Israeli stock exchange. As part of the sale, National Indemnity Company also took on a $48 million loan that Clal borrowed from a large international banking institution, according to the report. That sale was completed today.

Carl Witkowski, chief operating officer of Guard Insurance Group, said the world-class, high-performing National Indemnity Co. was interested in Guard because the company was successful and profitable during some difficult years in the recent past.

"Despite a long and deep recession and challenging period within our industry, we managed to expand and produce good financial results," Witkowski said. "With the economy slowly turning around and a strong parent company to assist us, we are very optimistic about our prospects for profitable expansion and growth."

Guard Insurance employs a total of 310 people, with 285 working in Wilkes-Barre. The company provides workers' compensation insurance to small to mid-sized businesses and currently insures more than 60,000 in 29 states.

With the acquisition by National Indemnity Company, Witkowski said Guard Insurance hopes to expand to every state and hire additional employees. He would not say how many people Guard Insurance will hire, but he said the company has been participating in job fairs.

"We are very proud that such a well-respected, world-class group was interested in purchasing us," Guard president and chief executive Sy Foguel said in a statement released today. "With the operational and financial support of our new parent company, we believe that Guard can become a national presence within the marketplace within a few years."

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