Liberty Mutual Insurance Enters Mexico with Acquisition of Primero Fianzas

Liberty Mutual Insurance, one of the largest property and casualty insurers in the world, today announced the acquisition of Mexican surety company Primero Fianzas from Grupo Valores Operativos Monterrey, a private investor group. The acquisition enables Liberty Mutual Surety, a business unit of Liberty Mutual’s Global Specialty strategic business unit, to expand its extensive international presence by entering Mexico’s $600 million surety market. The parties have not disclosed the financial terms of the agreement and the acquisition is subject to Mexican regulatory approval.

Headquartered in Mexico City, Primero Fianzas wrote over $33 million (USD) in gross written premium in 2012 primarily in the administrative and credit bond segments and operates through 11 offices writing surety business in all Mexican states. The company is the 4th largest surety writer in Mexico based on 2012 market share and ranks #1 in the Mexican credit surety segment.

“We believe Primero Fianzas provides an attractive platform for investing in and expanding our global surety and insurance capabilities in the growing Mexican market,” said Chris Peirce, President of Liberty Mutual Global Specialty. “Primero has strong market presence and a record of profitable growth. Its excellent agent and customer relationships complement Liberty Mutual Surety’s significant underwriting capacity and global expertise, and further solidify our leading North American surety presence.”

This acquisition in Mexico adds to Liberty Mutual Insurance's current international presence in 28 countries spread across Latin America, Europe, and Asia through the company's Global Specialty and International business units. Liberty Mutual Insurance is the largest property and casualty insurer in Venezuela, second largest property and casualty company in Colombia, and is among the top 10 property and casualty companies in Brazil and Chile.

About Liberty Mutual Insurance

"Helping people live safer, more secure lives" since 1912, Boston based Liberty Mutual Insurance is a diversified global insurer and is the third largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2012 direct premiums written as reported by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Liberty Mutual Insurance ranks 81st on the Fortune 100 list of largest corporations in the U.S. and 296th on the Fortune Global 500 listing based on 2012 revenue. As of December 31, 2012, Liberty Mutual Insurance had $120.1 billion in consolidated assets, $101.5 billion in consolidated liabilities, and $36.9 billion in annual consolidated revenue.

Liberty Mutual Insurance offers a wide range of insurance products and services, including personal automobile, homeowners, workers compensation, property, commercial automobile, general liability, global specialty, group disability, reinsurance and surety. Liberty Mutual Insurance (www.libertymutualinsurance.com) employs over 50,000 people in approximately 900 offices throughout the world.