NCCI Acquires ISO's Insurance Data Resources Subsidiary

Business Wire, June 21, 1999

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 21, 1999--

The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) has agreed to acquire Insurance Services Office, Inc.'s (ISO) workers compensation insurance subsidiaries, Insurance Data Resources, Inc. (IDR) and IDR Statistical Services, Inc. (IDRSS). The combined firm will be able to offer customers and regulators a unified database and consistent workers compensation materials.

"Regulators and insurers have expressed a desire to work with uniform core workers compensation materials and a single data base," noted Fred R. Marcon, ISO's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Consequently, we have reexamined the economics of full-scale IDR operations and concluded this agreement with NCCI is more beneficial to the industry."

"When ISO approached us, we took great care to ensure that the combination would fit with our first priority - that is, to continually improve our service to our customers and our value to the industry." said NCCI President and CEO Bill Schrempf. "We believe that the combination of these two entities will result in an improved source of information and service for all participants in the workers compensation industry."

As part of the transaction, NCCI will assume IDR's licenses for and modifications to its Insider(TM) data system for gathering, compiling and analyzing workers compensation data. "We believe the incorporation of components of the Insider(TM) system into NCCI's existing portfolio of data collection products will create improvements, efficiencies and cost savings that will be passed on to our member companies," Schrempf said.

Following the sale, ISO will continue to provide services to the workers compensation insurance industry as well as to the 12 other commercial lines of insurance that it currently services. NCCI has agreed to the on-going sale to ISO of NCCI's aggregate workers compensation data products and to allow ISO to distribute NCCI's other Risk Services products so that ISO customers can, if they choose, have access to comprehensive information to analyze risk on an account or classification basis. "Under the agreement, we'll have access to much more comprehensive workers compensation information sooner than we could through current arrangements," Marcon said.

NCCI and ISO anticipate a smooth and seamless transition for customers. As a result of this transaction, regulators and insurers alike will benefit from a more sophisticated and customer-oriented source of workers compensation information, according to Schrempf.

The terms of the transaction were not announced. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 1999 and is subject to various conditions.

ISO, headquartered in New York, NY, is the property/casualty insurance industry's leading supplier of statistical, actuarial, underwriting, and claims information. NCCI of Boca Raton, FL is the nation's largest single source for workers compensation insurance statistics and information.

For further information, contact James Wolfe, NCCI Chief Communications Officer at 561-997-4749. For ISO, contact David Ostwald at 212-898-6601.