W.R. Berkley NYSE: WRB is a Fortune 500 company founded in 1967, and based in Greenwich, Connecticut.
It includes 35 wholly owned subsidiaries offering a variety of insurance services from reinsurance to workers comp TPAs. In 2008, W.R. Berkley's total revenue was $4.71 Billion, of which $1.62 Billion came from the company's Specialty, $1.45B from Speciality Lines, $1.21B from Regional, $622 Million from Alternative Markets, $435 Million from Reinsurance, $312 Million from insurance, and $287 Million from International Markets.

W. R. Berkley Corporation (W. R. Berkley) is an insurance holding company. The Company operates in five segments of the property casualty insurance business: Specialty, Regional, Alternative markets, Reinsurance and International. Its specialty insurance and reinsurance operations are conducted throughout the United States, and, on a limited basis, outside the United States. Regional insurance operations are conducted primarily in the Midwest, Northeast, Southern (excluding Florida and Louisiana), Mid Atlantic and North Pacific regions of the United States. Alternative markets operations are conducted throughout the United States. Its international operations are conducted primarily in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, South America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Canada.
Specialty
The Company’s specialty lines of business include premises operations, commercial automobile, property, products liability and professional liability lines. The specialty business is conducted through 18 operating units. The specialty units deliver their products through a range of distribution channels depending on the customer base and particular risks insured. Admiral Insurance Company (Admiral) provides excess and surplus lines coverage that involves a moderate to high degree of hazard due to the nature of the class of coverage or type of business insured. Admiral concentrates on general liability, professional liability, property, and excess and umbrella liability lines of business. Admiral’s products are distributed by wholesale brokers. Nautilus Insurance Company (Nautilus) insures excess and surplus risks for small to medium-sized commercial risks with low to moderate susceptibility to loss. Admitted business is also written through an affiliate, Great Divide Insurance Company.
Monitor Liability Managers, Inc. (Monitor) specializes in professional liability insurance, including directors’ and officers’ liability, employment practices liability, lawyers’ professional liability, management liability, non-profit directors’ and officers’ liability and accountants’ professional liability. Carolina Casualty Insurance Company (Carolina) provides commercial insurance products and services to the transportation industry with an emphasis on intermediate and long-haul trucking and various classes of business and public auto. Carolina operates as an admitted carrier in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Berkley Specialty Underwriting Managers LLC (Berkley Specialty) has three underwriting divisions. The specialty casualty division underwrites excess and surplus lines general liability coverage with an emphasis on products liability. The entertainment and sports division underwrites property casualty insurance products, both on an admitted and non-admitted basis, for the entertainment industry and sports-related organizations. The environmental division underwrites specialty insurance products to environmental customers, such as contractors, consultants and owners of sites and facilities. Berkley Underwriting Partners, LLC (Berkley Underwriting Partners) underwrites specialty insurance products through program administrators and managing general underwriters. Berkley Underwriting Partners underwrites business nationwide on an admitted and non-admitted basis.
Berkley Select, LLC (Select) specializes in underwriting professional liability insurance with a particular emphasis on lawyers, accountants, medical facilities and miscellaneous errors and omissions (E&O) exposures. Select’s products are distributed through a limited number of brokers. Vela Insurance Services, Inc. (Vela) underwrites excess and surplus lines casualty business with a primary focus on contractors along with a portfolio of miscellaneous professional liability. Vela underwrites a variety of classes nationwide through a network of appointed excess and surplus lines brokers. Vela also underwrites wrap-up policies for large residential projects, primarily in California, through a managing general agency.
Clermont Specialty Managers, Ltd. (Clermont) underwrites package insurance programs, including workers’ compensation, for luxury condominium, cooperative and rental apartment buildings and restaurants in the New York City and Chicago metropolitan areas. Berkley Aviation, LLC (Aviation) underwrites general and specialty aviation insurance. It underwrites coverage for airlines, helicopters, miscellaneous general aviation operations, non-owned aircraft, fixed-base operations, control towers, airports and related businesses. Berkley Offshore Underwriting Managers, LLC (BOUM) underwrites property insurance for oil and gas exploration and production operations worldwide.
American Mining Insurance Company, Inc. (American Mining) specializes in writing workers’ compensation insurance for the mining industry and administers state and workers’ compensation funds. Berkley Professional Liability, LLC (Berkley Pro) underwrites professional liability products, including directors’ and officers’ liability insurance. Berkley Life Sciences, LLC (Berkley Life Science) underwrites casualty products to the life science marketplace, including medical devices, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. Gemini Transportation Underwriters (Gemini), which began operations in February 2009, underwrites excess liability insurance for the railroad and commercial trucking industries.
Berkley Asset Protection Underwriters, LLC (Berkley Asset) underwrites coverage for fine arts, jewelers block, fidelity, crime and related risks. FinSecure, LLC (FinSecure) underwrites property and liability insurance coverages for financial institutions and financial services firms, including mortgage impairment property coverage. Berkley Oil & Gas Speciality Services, LLC (Berkley Oil & Gas), which was formed in September 2009, underwrites a multi-line insurance product offering and provides risk control services in the domestic energy sector.
Regional
The Company’s regional companies provide commercial insurance products to customers primarily in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Its clients of this segment are small-to-mid-sized businesses, and state and local governmental entities. The regional business is sold through a network of non-exclusive independent agents. Continental Western Group (Continental Western Group) operates in 18 states in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. Acadia Insurance Company (Acadia) is based in Westbrook, Maine and operates in eight states in the Northeast. Union Standard Insurance Group (Union Standard) is based in Irving, Texas and operates in nine southern states other than Florida and Louisiana.
Berkley Mid Atlantic Group (BMAG) is based in Glen Allen, Virginia and operates in seven states in the Mid Atlantic region and the District of Columbia. Berkley Surety Group, Inc. (Berkley Surety) offers surety bonds on a nationwide basis through a network of 13 regional and branch offices. Berkley North Pacific Group, LLC (Berkley North Pacific) became a separate operating unit in August 2009. Berkley North Pacific is based in Seattle, Washington and operates primarily in the Pacific Northwest region. Berkley Regional Specialty Insurance Company (BRSIC) offers the availability of excess and surplus lines products to independent agents in its regional territories. Regional Excess Underwriters, LLC (REU) is a full-service excess and surplus lines brokerage offering commercial coverages through contracted agents throughout the continental United States.
Alternative Markets
The Company’s alternative markets operations specialize in insuring, reinsuring and administering self-insurance programs and other alternative risk transfer mechanisms. Its clients include commercial and governmental entity employers, employer groups, insurers, and other groups or entities seeking alternative ways to manage their exposure to risks. In addition to providing insurance products, the alternative markets segment also provides a variety of fee-based services, including claims, administrative and consulting services. Midwest Employers Casualty Company (MECC) provides excess workers’ compensation coverage and risk management services to self-insured employers and groups, as well as to insurance companies in the workers’ compensation business.
Key Risk Insurance Company (Key Risk) offers primary workers’ compensation insurance principally in the southeastern United States. Berkley Net Underwriters, LLC (Berkley Net) uses a Web-based system to allow producers to quote, bind and service insurance policies. Riverport Insurance Company (Riverport) provides property and casualty insurance products and services for human services organizations, governmental and other specialty entities, self-insured companies, associations and purchasing groups. Preferred Employers Insurance Company (Preferred Employers) offers workers’ compensation insurance in California with an emphasis on owner-managed small employers.
Berkley Accident and Health, LLC (Berkley A&H) underwrites accident and health insurance and reinsurance products through four primary business segments: medical stop loss, managed care, special risk and group captive. Berkley Medical Excess Underwriters, LLC (Medical Excess) underwrites medical malpractice excess insurance and reinsurance coverage and provides services to hospitals and hospital associations. Berkley Risk Administrators Company, LLC (BRAC) services include third-party claims administration, underwriting risk management, accounting services, loss control and safety consulting, management information systems, regulatory compliance, and alternative markets program management.
Reinsurance
The Company’s reinsurance operations consist of five operating units, which specialize in underwriting property casualty reinsurance on both a treaty and a facultative basis on behalf of Berkley Insurance Company. Signet Star Re, LLC (Signet Star) focuses on underwriting specialty lines of business, including professional liability, umbrella, workers’ compensation, commercial automobile and trucking. Its treaty business is produced through reinsurance brokers or intermediaries. Facultative ReSources, Inc. (Fac Re) specializes in underwriting individual certificate and program facultative business developed through reinsurance brokers or intermediaries.
Lloyd’s Reinsurance (Lloyd’s reinsurance) represents a range of mainly short-tail classes of business, which are written through Lloyd’s of London. B F Re Underwriters, LLC (BF Re) is a facultative casualty reinsurance underwriting manager that serves clients through a nationwide network of regional offices. Its business is written directly with ceding companies. BF Re’s primary lines of business are professional liability, excess and surplus, umbrella and medical malpractice. Berkley Risk Solutions, Inc. (Berkley Risk Solutions) underwrites insurance and reinsurance-based financial coverages for insurance companies and self-insured entities.
International
The Company’s international segment has operations in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, South America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Canada. Berkley International Latinoamérica S.A. (BILSA) provides commercial and personal property casualty insurance primarily in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. W. R. Berkley Insurance (Europe), Limited (Berkley Europe) is a London-based specialty casualty insurer that writes professional indemnity, directors’ and officers’ liability, medical malpractice, general liability, construction risks and personal accident and travel business principally in the United Kingdom and through its branch offices in Spain, Ireland, Norway and Australia.
Berkley Re Australia (Australia) provides property and casualty reinsurance on a treaty and facultative basis in Australia and through its division in Hong Kong. W. R. Berkley Syndicate Limited (Syndicate 1967), which began operations in 2009, underwrites property and accident classes of business through Lloyd’s of London on a worldwide basis. Berkley Underwriting Managers Canada, Ltd. (Berkley Canada) underwrites specialty casualty commercial insurance products, including general liability, products liability and other commercial lines in the Canadian provinces.
W. R. Berkley competes with Swiss Re, Munich Re, Berkshire Hathaway, Transatlantic Reinsurance and Partner Re.

Principal Subsidiaries: Acadia Insurance Company; American West Insurance Company; Continental Western Insurance Company; Firemen's Insurance Company of Washington, D.C.; Habitational Insurance Division; Chesapeake Insurance Division; Great River Insurance Company; Tri-State Insurance Company of Minnesota; Union Insurance Company; Union Standard Insurance Company; Admiral Insurance Company; Monitor Liability Managers, Inc.; Nautilus Insurance Company; Great Divide Insurance Company; Carolina Casualty Insurance Company; Berkley Administrators; Berkley Risk Services, Inc.; Key Risk Management Services, Inc.; Rasmussen Administrators; Berkley Risk Managers, Inc.; All American Agency Facilities, Inc.; Berkley Dean & Company, Inc.; Berkley Information Services; Signet Star Holdings, Inc.; Signet Star Reinsurance Company; Fidelity and Surety Division; Facultative ReSources, Inc.


OVERALL
Beta: 0.35
Market Cap (Mil.): $4,617.26
Shares Outstanding (Mil.): 141.59
Annual Dividend: 0.28
Yield (%): 0.86
FINANCIALS
WRB Industry Sector
P/E (TTM): 11.08 2.85 26.26
EPS (TTM): 8.10 -- --
ROI: -- 0.09 4.64
ROE: -- 1.76 9.12


Statistics:
Public Company
Incorporated: 1967 as Fine-Vest Services, Inc.
Employees: 2,607
Total Assets: $3.58 billion
Stock Exchanges: NASDAQ
SICs: 6331 Fire, Marine, and Casualty Insurance; 6411 Insurance Agents, Brokers, & Services; 8742 Management Consulting Services

Name Age Since Current Position
Berkley, William 65 2009 Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer
Berkley, W. Robert 38 2009 President, Chief Operating Officer, Director
Ballard, Eugene 58 2009 Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President
Lederman, Ira 57 2001 Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary
Shiel, James 51 1997 Senior Vice President - Investments
Welt, Philip 2011 Senior Vice President
Patafio, Clement 46 1997 Vice President - Corporate Controller
Nusbaum, Jack 70 1967 Independent Director
Shapiro, Mark 67 1974 Independent Director
Daly, George 70 1998 Independent Director
Blaylock, Ronald 51 2001 Independent Director
Brockbank, Mark 59 2001 Independent Director
Hawes, Rodney 73 2004 Independent Director
Farrell, Mary 61 2006 Independent Director

Address:
P.O. Box 2518
Greenwich, Connecticut 06836-2518
U.S.A.
 
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