St. Paul-Travelers marriage seen as exception, not trend.(Top Stories Of The Week)(Announcement by The St. Paul Companies Inc. and Travelers Property Casualty Corp. to merge and create The St. Paul Travelers Companies )(Cover Story)

National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management, November, 2003 by Ha, Michael

The (sort of) surprise announcement by The St. Paul Companies Inc. and Travelers Property Casualty Corp. to merge and create The St. Paul Travelers Companies is receiving a mostly positive reception from ratings firms and equity analysts. But industry watchers are also saying this marriage is more the exception than the rule in the current property-casualty marketplace, where the urge to merge is decidedly muted and the fear of commitment has been the norm since the late 1990s because of the fear over prior-year liabilities.

One critical factor that paved the road for this transaction is the familiarity between management at The St. Paul and Travelers, and, in particular, the background of The St. Paul Chief Executive and Chairman Jay Fishman, who has the...

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