It Figures

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An ongoing outbreak of E. coli linked to spinach has sickened 187 people in 26 states according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For more than a week, the Food and Drug Administration has recommend people not eat fresh, raw spinach. State and federal investigators since have traced the contaminated spinach back to three California counties, and already farm inspections there are turning up possible problems. At this writing officials said spinach grown anywhere outside that area is safe to eat–but the industry needs to figure out how to let consumers know the origin of what they’re buying before the green can return to sale, said Dr. David Acheson of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

$3 billion
Zurich Financial Services Group announced that it has successfully completed the refinancing of its $3 billion syndicated revolving credit facility. “Given current strong liquidity in the bank market, the company decided to replace its existing $3 billion credit facility that was completed in 2004 with a 5-year facility including two 1-year extension options,” said the announcement. It added that, “as the former facility, it serves for general corporate and backup liquidity purposes.” The facility received strong support from the market and was signed with the same bank syndicate.

1,700
From a financial standpoint Swiss Re’s integration of GE Insurance Solutions seems to be progressing well. However, it has inevitably led to job cuts, or as the British would put it, redundancies. Swiss Re announced that it “will start informing its employees on the further staffing decisions taken to capture efficiency gains of at least $300 million from the integration of Insurance Solutions.” The an-nouncement confirms earlier statements that between 1,100 and 1,700 jobs, a 10 to 15 percent reduction, could be implemented when the two companies completed the formation of the world’s largest reinsurer.

$3 million
An Aug. 24 storm that rolled across North Dakota left behind at least $3 million in damage, and the amount is likely to go higher as more claims are filed, Insurance Commissioner Jim Poolman says. He said earlier that 700 insurance claims had already been filed. The bulk of the claims are from the western part of the state, where some areas got grapefruit-size hail.