Tri-City Signs Letter of Intent with EXEL

Tri-City Brokerage, Inc. (Tri-City), an insurance wholesaler, has signed a letter of intent to sell a 25% stake of its enterprise for $8 million to EXEL Limited, a publicly traded, Bermuda-based provider of excess insurance and reinsurance worldwide, according to John Hahn, president of San Francisco-based Tri-City.

The investment, currently in due diligence and expected to close within 60 to 90 days, will provide Tri-City the opportunity to pursue its strategy of continued growth in its core wholesale business and diversification in specialty operations and acquisitions, the company says.

``Tri-City is looking forward to enhancing its long standing relationship with The Brockbank Group, the leading U.K. specialist company based at Lloyd's,'' notes Hahn. ``Brockbank will become a wholly owned subsidiary of EXEL, following EXEL's pending merger later this summer with Mid Ocean Limited which owns Brockbank.''

``The strategic alliance with EXEL and the Brockbank Group is a win-win situation for Tri-City,'' states Hahn. ``It will allow us to focus more on our strengths and find new ways to provide top quality expertise in the marketplace. The partnership will also help Tri-City in its endless crusade to satisfy customer needs, allowing it to take advantage of more unique outsourced opportunities while continuing to differentiate its services by remaining flexible and creative.''

Tri-City has engaged in numerous partnerships with varying specialists over the years. These relationships have enabled the company to offer products, such as global marine and energy insurance; professional liability coverage for lawyers; political risk insurance; product warranty; directors and officers liability coverages; employee benefit management systems, and many other products and specialized programs.

Tri-City's business in the western United States is handled through offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Its East Coast operations are conducted from its New York and Hauppauge (Long Island) offices, while the Chicago and Florida offices focus on the Midwest and Southeast, respectively.