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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
Form 13F
Form 13F COVER PAGE
Report for the Calendar Year or Quarter: December 31, 2011
Check here if Amendment [_]; Amendment Number: ________________________________
This Amendment (Check only one.): [_] is a restatement.
[_] adds new holdings entries.
Institutional Investment Manager Filing this Report:
Name: Markel Corporation
Address: 4521 Highwoods Pkwy
Glen Allen, VA 23060
Form 13F File Number: 28-6647
The institutional investment manager filing this report and the person by whom
it is signed hereby represent that the person signing the report is authorized
to submit it, that all information contained herein is true, correct and
complete, and that it is understood that all required items, statements,
schedules, lists, and tables, are considered integral parts of this form.
Person Signing this Report on Behalf of Reporting Manager:
Name: Thomas S. Gayner
Title: President and Chief Investment Officer
Phone: 804-527-3806
Signature, Place, and Date of Signing:
/s/ Thomas S. Gayner Richmond, VA 02/13/2012
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[Signature] [City, State] [Date]
Report Type (Check only one.):
[X] 13F HOLDINGS REPORT. (Check here if all holdings of this reporting manager
are reported in this report.)
[_] 13F NOTICE. (Check here if no holdings reported are in this report, and all
holdings are reported by other reporting manager(s).)
[_]13F COMBINATION REPORT. (Check here if a portion of the holdings for this
reporting manager are reported in this report and a portion are reported by
other reporting manager(s).)
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Form 13F SUMMARY PAGE
Report Summary:
Number of Other Included Managers: 1
Form 13F Information Table Entry Total: 127
Form 13F Information Table Value Total: $1,895,524
(thousands)
List of Other Included Managers:
Provide a numbered list of the name(s) and Form 13F file number(s) of all
institutional investment managers with respect to which this report is filed,
other than the manager filing this report.
No. Form 13F File Number Name
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1 28-6056 Markel Gayner Asset Management
Corporation
FORM 13F INFORMATION TABLE
VALUE SHARES/ SH/ PUT/ INVSTMT OTHER VOTING AUTHORITY
NAME OF ISSUER TITLE OF CLASS CUSIP (x$1000) PRN AMT PRN CALL DSCRETN MANAGERS SOLE SHARED NONE
------------------------------ ---------------- --------- -------- -------- --- ---- ------- ------------ -------- -------- --------
3M Company COM 88579y101 2452 30000 SH SOLE 30000
12840 157100 SH DEFINED 01 154000 3100
Abbott Laboratories COM 002824100 5061 90000 SH DEFINED 01 89000 1000
Accenture COM G1151C101 532 10000 SH SOLE 10000
5855 110000 SH DEFINED 01 100000 10000
Air Products & Chemicals COM 009158106 409 4800 SH DEFINED 01 4800
Alleghany Corporation COM 017175100 1235 4328 SH SOLE 4328
Altria COM 02209S103 3481 117400 SH DEFINED 01 114500 2900
American Express COM 025816109 472 10000 SH SOLE 10000
17811 377595 SH DEFINED 01 339000 38595
Anheuser-Busch Inbev ADR COM 03524A108 24689 404801 SH DEFINED 01 390000 14801
Automatic Data Processing COM 053015103 27102 501800 SH DEFINED 01 489700 12100
Bank of New York Mellon Corp COM 064058100 60 3019 SH SOLE 3019
4642 233130 SH DEFINED 01 214907 18223
Berkshire Hathaway Class B COM 084670702 37013 485100 SH SOLE 485100
83186 1090247 SH DEFINED 01 1026507 63740
Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. COM 084670108 31558 275 SH SOLE 275
78263 682 SH DEFINED 01 647 35
Brookfield Asset Management COM 112585104 11816 430000 SH SOLE 430000
73429 2672106 SH DEFINED 01 2485548 186558
Brookfield Residential COM 11283W104 715 91500 SH DEFINED 01 89500 2000
Brown & Brown COM 115236101 8274 365628 SH DEFINED 01 365628
Brown Forman Class A COM 115637100 22494 283760 SH DEFINED 01 281000 2760
Brown-Forman Class B COM 115637209 5709 70915 SH DEFINED 01 70250 665
Calumet COM 131476103 202 10000 SH SOLE 10000
544 27000 SH DEFINED 01 25000 2000
Capital One COM 14040H105 5426 128300 SH DEFINED 01 120000 8300
Carmax COM 143130102 7163 235000 SH SOLE 235000
151072 4956435 SH DEFINED 01 4728070 228365
Caterpillar Inc COM 149123101 22354 246734 SH DEFINED 01 241000 5734
Charles Schwab COM 808513105 10694 949700 SH DEFINED 01 895000 54700
Coca Cola Co COM 191216100 4478 64000 SH DEFINED 01 60000 4000
Contango Oil & Gas COM 21075n204 3520 60500 SH DEFINED 01 60500
Costco COM 22160K105 417 5000 SH SOLE 5000
2958 35500 SH DEFINED 01 34000 1500
DENTSPLY COM 249030107 1239 35400 SH DEFINED 01 35000 400
DST Systems, Inc COM 233326107 1275 28000 SH DEFINED 01 28000
Diageo PLC COM 25243Q205 28717 328500 SH SOLE 328500
80308 918640 SH DEFINED 01 861500 57140
Disney COM 254687106 7500 200000 SH SOLE 200000
50167 1337794 SH DEFINED 01 1262500 75294
Dreamworks Animation SKG, Inc COM 26153C103 830 50000 SH DEFINED 01 50000
EOG Resources, Inc. COM 26875p101 8275 84000 SH DEFINED 01 83500 500
Eagle Materials COM 26969p108 1398 54500 SH DEFINED 01 54500
Ecolab COM 278865100 2798 48400 SH DEFINED 01 48000 400
Emerson Electric COM 291011104 8121 174300 SH DEFINED 01 158000 16300
Enterprise Products Lmtd Ptnsh COM 293792107 292 6300 SH DEFINED 01 6300
Expeditors Int'l Wash Inc COM 302130109 1966 48000 SH DEFINED 01 48000
Exxon Corporation COM 30231G102 16935 199800 SH SOLE 199800
51839 611602 SH DEFINED 01 565000 46602
Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd COM 303901102 115175 267104 SH SOLE 267104
5327 12355 SH DEFINED 01 12355
Federated Investors COM 314211103 151 10000 SH SOLE 10000
14703 970500 SH DEFINED 01 954000 16500
Fidelity National Financial COM 31620R105 26934 1690800 SH DEFINED 01 1663000 27800
General Dynamics COM 369550108 25780 388188 SH DEFINED 01 370000 18188
General Electric COM 369604103 24401 1362450 SH SOLE 1362450
19088 1065783 SH DEFINED 01 942550 123233
Heritage Crystal Clean Inc COM 42726M106 3966 239500 SH DEFINED 01 239500
Home Depot COM 437076102 841 20000 SH SOLE 20000
39780 946231 SH DEFINED 01 900000 46231
ITC Holdings Corp COM 465685105 13142 173200 SH DEFINED 01 173000 200
Illinois Tool Works COM 452308109 11661 249641 SH DEFINED 01 230000 19641
Intel COM 458140100 1455 60000 SH SOLE 60000
17519 722442 SH DEFINED 01 690000 32442
International Business Machine COM 459200101 1839 10000 SH SOLE 10000
1931 10500 SH DEFINED 01 10000 500
International Game Technology COM 459902102 4300 250000 SH SOLE 250000
14859 863886 SH DEFINED 01 820000 43886
Investors Title Company COM 461804106 8186 228850 SH DEFINED 01 213300 15550
Johnson and Johnson COM 478160104 18362 280000 SH SOLE 280000
18782 286395 SH DEFINED 01 271700 14695
Lennar Corp - B COM 526057302 1507 96700 SH DEFINED 01 96700
Lennox International COM 526107107 7779 230500 SH DEFINED 01 230000 500
Leucadia National Corp COM 527288104 14275 627766 SH DEFINED 01 605000 22766
Loews Corporation COM 540424108 2654 70500 SH DEFINED 01 65000 5500
Louisiana Pacific Corp COM 546347105 863 107000 SH DEFINED 01 107000
Lowes COM 548661107 2411 95000 SH SOLE 95000
11718 461700 SH DEFINED 01 420000 41700
Marriott International COM 571903202 5308 181965 SH SOLE 181965
35739 1225191 SH DEFINED 01 1101907 123284
Marriott Vacations Worldwide COM 57164Y107 312 18196 SH SOLE 18196
2103 122539 SH DEFINED 01 110186 12353
Mastercard, Inc COM 57636Q104 1118 3000 SH DEFINED 01 3000
McCormick and Company COM 579780206 756 15000 SH DEFINED 01 15000
McDonalds COM 580135101 19254 191907 SH DEFINED 01 181000 10907
Microsoft Corp COM 594918104 19073 734690 SH DEFINED 01 714000 20690
Mosaic Company COM 61945c103 1362 27000 SH DEFINED 01 27000
National Oilwell COM 637071101 5779 85000 SH DEFINED 01 85000
Nicholas Financial COM 65373j209 1968 153500 SH DEFINED 01 153500
Nike COM 654106103 4838 50200 SH DEFINED 01 50000 200
Northern Trust Corp COM 665859104 5552 140000 SH DEFINED 01 140000
Novo-Nordisk A/S COM 670100205 26418 229200 SH DEFINED 01 215000 14200
NuStar GP Holdings COM 67059L102 8595 258500 SH DEFINED 01 251500 7000
Oracle Corp COM 68389x105 10806 421300 SH DEFINED 01 385000 36300
Patterson Companies Inc. COM 703395103 4328 146600 SH DEFINED 01 145000 1600
Paychex COM 704326107 4393 145900 SH DEFINED 01 145000 900
Pepsico COM 713448108 6967 105000 SH DEFINED 01 104300 700
Philip Morris International COM 718172109 9159 116700 SH DEFINED 01 114500 2200
Plum Creek Lumber MLP COM 729251108 5484 150000 SH SOLE 150000
7473 204400 SH DEFINED 01 200000 4400
Pool Corp COM 73278L105 2859 95000 SH DEFINED 01 95000
Procter & Gamble COM 742718109 2882 43200 SH DEFINED 01 42000 1200
RLI Corporation COM 749607107 44816 615096 SH DEFINED 01 598636 16460
SEI Investments Co COM 784117103 1648 95000 SH DEFINED 01 95000
Schlumberger COM 806857108 4741 69400 SH DEFINED 01 69000 400
State Street Corp COM 857477103 1629 40400 SH DEFINED 01 40400
Sysco Corp COM 871829107 2493 85000 SH SOLE 85000
20848 710791 SH DEFINED 01 640000 70791
T.Rowe Price COM 74144T108 626 11000 SH SOLE 11000
13070 229500 SH DEFINED 01 229000 500
Teva Pharmaceuticals COM 881624209 18893 468100 SH DEFINED 01 459000 9100
Union First Market Bankshares COM 90662P104 46580 3504920 SH SOLE 3504920
United Parcel Service COM 911312106 5088 69520 SH SOLE 69520
49129 671249 SH DEFINED 01 622980 48269
United Technologies COM 913017109 3918 53600 SH DEFINED 01 53000 600
Visa COM 92826C839 8539 84100 SH DEFINED 01 84000 100
Vodafone Group COM 92857w209 420 15000 SH DEFINED 01 15000
W.P. Carey COM 92930Y107 1842 45000 SH SOLE 45000
37497 915900 SH DEFINED 01 905200 10700
Wal-Mart Stores COM 931142103 6958 116425 SH SOLE 116425
57972 970074 SH DEFINED 01 900575 69499
Walgreen COM 931422109 7351 222360 SH DEFINED 01 220000 2360
Washington Post Co COM 939640108 2035 5400 SH DEFINED 01 5200 200
Washington Real Estate Investm COM 939653101 338 12366 SH DEFINED 01 12366
Watsco Inc COM 942622200 2626 40000 SH DEFINED 01 40000
Western Union COM 959802109 4967 272000 SH DEFINED 01 272000