Cayman Islands Investment Group Aims to Acquire Washington Insurer

Washington’s Office of the Insurance Commissioner has scheduled a March 19, 2008, hearing to consider an investment group’s request to acquire a controlling interest in a Bellevue, Wash.-based property-casualty insurer.

The investment group, J.C. Flowers II L.P., Cayman Islands, an exempted limited partnership, and its subsidiary, JCF DRC, L.P., an Alberta, Cananda, limited partnership, have asked the state Insurance Commissioner’s Office to approve acquisition of 46 percent of the common stock shares on the holding company that owns National Merit Insurance Co., of Bellevue. The two limited partnerships are controlled by J.C. Flowers.

National Merit, a personal lines property-casualty insurer, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Response Insurance Co., which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Direct Response Corp., of Delaware.

The 9 a.m. hearing will be held in the OIC’s Tumwater office at 5000 Capitol Boulevard in washington.

Questions may be addressed to Ron Pastuch, the agency’s Holding Company Manager at (360) 725-7211. Objections, concerns or requests to participate should be directed to Wendy Galloway at (360) 725-7002.

For more information, visit www.insurance.wa.gov/news/dynamic/newsreleasedetail.asp?rcdNum=593.

Source: OIC