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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: March 31, 2012
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 05/14/2012
_______________________ ________________________ _______________________
[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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1
Form 13F SUMMARY PAGE
Report Summary:
Number of Other Included Managers: 1
___________
Form 13F Information Table Entry Total: 131
___________
Form 13F Information Table Value Total: $ 2,168,987
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(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
___ _____________________ ______________________________________
1 28-6056 Markel Gayner Asset Management
Corporation
FORM 13F INFORMATION TABLE VOTING AUTHORITY
TITLE OF VALUE SHARES/ SH/ PUT/ INVSTMT OTHER
NAME OF ISSUER CLASS CUSIP (x$1000) PRN AMT PRN CALL DSCRETN MANAGERS SOLE SHARED NONE
-------------- -------- --------- -------- ------- --- ---- -------- -------- ------- ------ ------
3M Company COM 88579y101 2676 30000 SH SOLE 30000
15505 173800 SH DEFINED 01 171000 2800
Accenture COM G1151C101 645 10000 SH SOLE 10000
6837 106000 SH DEFINED 01 100000 6000
Air Products & Chemicals COM 009158106 257 2800 SH DEFINED 01 2800
Alleghany Corporation COM 017175100 1424 4328 SH SOLE 4328
Altria COM 02209S103 3556 115200 SH DEFINED 01 114500 700
American Express COM 025816109 579 10000 SH SOLE 10000
21269 367595 SH DEFINED 01 339000 28595
Anheuser-Busch Inbev ADR COM 03524A108 29277 402601 SH DEFINED 01 390000 12601
Archer Daniels COM 039483102 11904 376000 SH DEFINED 01 375000 1000
Artio Global Investors COM 04315B107 6719 1408600 SH DEFINED 01 1401600 7000
Automatic Data Processing COM 053015103 28655 519200 SH DEFINED 01 507700 11500
Bank of New York Mellon Corp COM 064058100 73 3019 SH SOLE 3019
5603 232187 SH DEFINED 01 214907 17280
Barrett Business Systems COM 068463108 208 10500 SH DEFINED 01 10000 500
Berkshire Hathaway Class B COM 084670702 39366 485100 SH SOLE 485100
87492 1078157 SH DEFINED 01 1026507 51650
Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. COM 084670108 33522 275 SH SOLE 275
88377 725 SH DEFINED 01 697 28
Brookfield Asset Management COM 112585104 13575 430000 SH SOLE 430000
83667 2650200 SH DEFINED 01 2495548 154652
Brookfield Residential COM 11283W104 1042 98500 SH DEFINED 01 96500 2000
Brown & Brown COM 115236101 8695 365628 SH DEFINED 01 365628
Brown Forman Class A COM 115637100 23175 283760 SH DEFINED 01 281000 2760
Brown-Forman Class B COM 115637209 5914 70915 SH DEFINED 01 70250 665
Calamos Asset Management COM 12811R104 328 25000 SH DEFINED 01 25000
Calumet COM 131476103 264 10000 SH SOLE 10000
713 27000 SH DEFINED 01 25000 2000
Capital One COM 14040H105 9966 178800 SH DEFINED 01 170000 8800
Carbo Ceramics Inc COM 140781105 4640 44000 SH DEFINED 01 44000
Carmax COM 143130102 8143 235000 SH SOLE 235000
170044 4907488 SH DEFINED 01 4728070 179418
Caterpillar Inc COM 149123101 25952 243634 SH DEFINED 01 241000 2634
Charles Schwab COM 808513105 14143 984200 SH DEFINED 01 935000 49200
Coca Cola Co COM 191216100 4663 63000 SH DEFINED 01 60000 3000
Colfax Corporation COM 194014106 38238 1085070 SH SOLE 1085070
Contango Oil & Gas COM 21075n204 1797 30500 SH DEFINED 01 30500
Costco COM 22160K105 454 5000 SH SOLE 5000
3223 35500 SH DEFINED 01 34000 1500
DENTSPLY COM 249030107 1421 35400 SH DEFINED 01 35000 400
Diageo PLC COM 25243Q205 31700 328500 SH SOLE 328500
87408 905780 SH DEFINED 01 861500 44280
Disney COM 254687106 8756 200000 SH SOLE 200000
58915 1345702 SH DEFINED 01 1284500 61202
Dreamworks Animation SKG, Inc COM 26153C103 1808 98000 SH DEFINED 01 98000
EOG Resources, Inc. COM 26875p101 9321 83900 SH DEFINED 01 83500 400
Eagle Materials COM 26969p108 2033 58500 SH DEFINED 01 58500
Ecolab COM 278865100 2987 48400 SH DEFINED 01 48000 400
Emerson Electric COM 291011104 9022 172900 SH DEFINED 01 158000 14900
Enterprise Products Lmtd Ptnsh COM 293792107 318 6300 SH DEFINED 01 6300
Expeditors Int'l Wash Inc COM 302130109 2837 61000 SH DEFINED 01 61000
Exxon Corporation COM 30231G102 17329 199800 SH SOLE 199800
53309 614659 SH DEFINED 01 579000 35659
Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd COM 303901102 107533 267104 SH SOLE 267104
4974 12355 SH DEFINED 01 12355
Federated Investors COM 314211103 224 10000 SH SOLE 10000
47890 2137000 SH DEFINED 01 2114000 23000
Fidelity National Financial COM 31620R105 12428 689300 SH DEFINED 01 663000 26300
General Dynamics COM 369550108 29194 397841 SH DEFINED 01 382000 15841
General Electric COM 369604103 27344 1362450 SH SOLE 1362450
20943 1043494 SH DEFINED 01 942550 100944
Heritage Crystal Clean Inc COM 42726M106 4778 239500 SH DEFINED 01 239500
Home Depot COM 437076102 1006 20000 SH SOLE 20000
47550 945134 SH DEFINED 01 900000 45134
ITC Holdings Corp COM 465685105 6401 83200 SH DEFINED 01 83000 200
Illinois Tool Works COM 452308109 14203 248647 SH DEFINED 01 230000 18647
Intel COM 458140100 1687 60000 SH SOLE 60000
21804 775542 SH DEFINED 01 750000 25542
International Business Machine COM 459200101 2086 10000 SH SOLE 10000
2191 10500 SH DEFINED 01 10000 500
International Game Technology COM 459902102 4197 250000 SH SOLE 250000
14505 863888 SH DEFINED 01 820000 43888
Investors Title Company COM 461804106 10271 219850 SH DEFINED 01 213300 6550
Johnson and Johnson COM 478160104 18469 280000 SH SOLE 280000
18640 282595 SH DEFINED 01 271700 10895
Lennar Corp-B COM 526057302 2273 101700 SH DEFINED 01 101700
Lennox International COM 526107107 10216 253500 SH DEFINED 01 253000 500
Leucadia National Corp COM 527288104 17115 655766 SH DEFINED 01 635000 20766
Loews Corporation COM 540424108 7994 200500 SH DEFINED 01 195000 5500
Louisiana Pacific Corp COM 546347105 1094 117000 SH DEFINED 01 117000
Lowes COM 548661107 2981 95000 SH SOLE 95000
14331 456700 SH DEFINED 01 430000 26700
Marriott International COM 571903202 6887 181965 SH SOLE 181965
45290 1196574 SH DEFINED 01 1101907 94667
Marriott Vacations Worldwide COM 57164Y107 519 18196 SH SOLE 18196
3298 115681 SH DEFINED 01 110186 5495
Mastercard, Inc COM 57636Q104 1262 3000 SH DEFINED 01 3000
McCormick and Company COM 579780206 925 17000 SH DEFINED 01 17000
McDonalds COM 580135101 18326 186808 SH DEFINED 01 181000 5808
Microsoft Corp COM 594918104 25742 798090 SH DEFINED 01 784000 14090
Mosaic Company COM 61945c103 1493 27000 SH DEFINED 01 27000
National Oilwell COM 637071101 6755 85000 SH DEFINED 01 85000
Nicholas Financial COM 65373j209 2025 153500 SH DEFINED 01 153500
Nike COM 654106103 5444 50200 SH DEFINED 01 50000 200
Northern Trust Corp COM 665859104 6643 140000 SH DEFINED 01 140000
Novo-Nordisk A/S COM 670100205 31487 227000 SH DEFINED 01 215000 12000
NuStar GP Holdings COM 67059L102 208 6000 SH DEFINED 01 6000
Oracle Corp COM 68389x105 15029 515400 SH DEFINED 01 490000 25400
Patterson Companies Inc. COM 703395103 4896 146600 SH DEFINED 01 145000 1600
Paychex COM 704326107 4676 150900 SH DEFINED 01 150000 900
Pepsico COM 713448108 6967 105000 SH DEFINED 01 104300 700
Philip Morris International COM 718172109 10146 114500 SH DEFINED 01 114500
Plum Creek Lumber MLP COM 729251108 6234 150000 SH SOLE 150000
8433 202900 SH DEFINED 01 200000 2900
Pool Corp COM 73278L105 3555 95000 SH DEFINED 01 95000
RLI Corporation COM 749607107 43501 607212 SH DEFINED 01 598636 8576
SEI Investments Co COM 784117103 2276 110000 SH DEFINED 01 110000
Schlumberger COM 806857108 6364 91000 SH DEFINED 01 91000
State Street Corp COM 857477103 1838 40400 SH DEFINED 01 40400
Sysco Corp COM 871829107 2538 85000 SH SOLE 85000
20977 702495 SH DEFINED 01 640000 62495
T.Rowe Price COM 74144T108 718 11000 SH SOLE 11000
15639 239500 SH DEFINED 01 239000 500
Teva Pharmaceuticals COM 881624209 24179 536600 SH DEFINED 01 533000 3600
Union First Market Bankshares COM 90662P104 49069 3504920 SH SOLE 3504920
United Parcel Service COM 911312106 5612 69520 SH SOLE 69520
53417 661753 SH DEFINED 01 622980 38773
United Technologies COM 913017109 4446 53600 SH DEFINED 01 53000 600
Visa COM 92826C839 11340 96100 SH DEFINED 01 96000 100
Vodafone Group COM 92857w209 553 20000 SH DEFINED 01 20000
W.P. Carey COM 92930Y107 2093 45000 SH SOLE 45000
42442 912400 SH DEFINED 01 905200 7200
Wal-Mart Stores COM 931142103 7125 116425 SH SOLE 116425
60176 983276 SH DEFINED 01 922575 60701
Walgreen COM 931422109 22936 684860 SH DEFINED 01 670000 14860
Washington Post Co COM 939640108 1980 5300 SH DEFINED 01 5200 100
Washington Real Estate Investm COM 939653101 287 9666 SH DEFINED 01 9666
Watsco Inc COM 942622200 2962 40000 SH DEFINED 01 40000
Western Union COM 959802109 5984 340000 SH DEFINED 01 340000
Yum! Brands Inc COM 988498101 228 3200 SH DEFINED 01 3200