Farmers Group Completes Merger with Manufactured Home Insurer

The insurance exchanges of the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies this week announced they've completed the merger of Foremost Corporation of America in what is a $812 million deal.

"Farmers' mission is to be considered `first choice' by American insurance and financial services consumers. Our strategy is to provide as many of the products and services as our customers need to protect their property, grow their assets, and plan for their financial future," said Martin Feinstein, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Farmers Group, Inc., the Los Angeles-based corporation that manages the insurance exchanges of the Farmers group. "The manufactured home market is a major opportunity for Farmers and provides an avenue to increase our growth in net written premiums," he added.

"Adding the manufactured home, recreational vehicles and other specialty markets to our portfolio is one more step in our mission to provide complete insurance and financial services solutions for our customers and is consistent with other new initiatives underway at Farmers," said Feinstein.

"Farmers is a dominant brand in the U.S. personal and small business markets due to our excellent service and professional, exclusive distribution system. Foremost is a dominant brand in specialty insurance because of their success in product development, risk management and customer service. We see this as a true `win-win' situation for our customers, our employees and our agents," said Feinstein.

Based in Caledonia Township, Mich., near Grand Rapids, Foremost subsidiaries specialize in manufactured home, motor home, travel trailer and specialty property insurance. More than 20,000 independent agents distribute their products through 45,000 outlets nationwide.

Farmers Group, Inc., the management and holding company for the group, is a member of the Zurich Financial Services Group.