Assurant Buys Back One Million Shares From Fortis for $59 Million

Copyright 2008 A.M. Best Company, Inc.All Rights Reserved BestWire August 8, 2008 Friday 11:03 AM EST 312 words Assurant Buys Back One Million Shares From Fortis for $59 Million Marc Jones NEW YORK Insurance services provider Assurant (NYSE: AIZ) said it has bought up one million of its common shares from Dutch insurer Fortis for $59 million (39.14 million euros). The shares were purchased in a private after-market block transaction, the company said in a statement. In August 1999, Fortis purchased American Bankers Insurance Group, after which Fortis' and American Bankers' credit insurance operations were combined and renamed Assurant Group (BestWire, Aug. 24, 1999). Assurant went through an initial public offering organized by Fortis on Feb. 5, 2004 (BestWire Feb. 5, 2004). Then on Jan. 28, 2008, Fortis distributed 18,851,690 shares of Assurant common stock to holders of mandatorily exchangeable bonds. Following this transaction, Fortis owned 4,147,400 shares. In September 2007, Assurant announced the suspension of its stock buyback program in light of its continuing involvement with the SEC Staff's investigation into certain loss-mitigation products. Assurant said this purchase of shares from Fortis does not constitute a resumption of its buyback program, which remains on hold. It added that it continues to evaluate the potential to implement a new buyback program. Robert Pollock, chief executive officer and president of Assurant, said the move demonstrates the strength of its capital position following a recently announced intention to expand its Solutions business by signing an agreement to acquire Signal Holdings LLC, a provider of wireless handset protection programs and repair services. "In addition to a strong capital position, Assurant continues to execute effectively on its specialty strategy," said Pollock. "For the first half of the year, Assurant demonstrated both a double digit growth in net earned premiums and net operating income. We also raised our dividend in May." (By: Marc Jones, London news editor: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>) August 9, 2008 <div> <div class="x_nshr"> <center></center> <center><a href="http://www.lexis-nexis.com/lncc/about/copyrt.html" target="_new" class="x_pagelinks">Copyright © 2008 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </a> <a href="http://www.lexis-nexis.com/terms/general" target="_new" class="x_pagelinks">Terms and Conditions</a> <a href="http://www.lexis-nexis.com/terms/privacy" target="_new" class="x_pagelinks"> Privacy Policy</a> </center> </div> </div>