Liberty Mutual Insurance Co

Auto and home insurer Liberty Mutual Group will buy Ohio Casualty Corp. for $2.7 billion, the companies said, boosting the number of independent insurance agencies offering Boston-based Liberty's products to nearly 10,000 nationwide. Shareholders of Ohio Casualty will receive $44 a share, a premium of 32% over the Fairfield, Ohio, company's closing stock price Friday. The deal sparked speculation among Wall Street analysts that merger mania was finally reaching the staid insurance industry.

New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer on Friday charged Liberty Mutual Group, the sixth-largest U.S. property casualty insurer, with rigging bids and making payoffs to steer business its way. Liberty Mutual denied the charges, saying it was "preparing to resolve the issues in court." The civil complaint in New York State Supreme Court alleges that Boston-based Liberty Mutual conspired with Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc., the world's largest insurance broker.

Liberty Mutual Group agreed to buy the personal property and casualty insurance business of Prudential Financial Inc. for $540 million. Privately held Liberty, based in Boston, will take over Prudential's $1.1 billion of automobile and homeowner's premiums, making it the No. 8 U.S. provider of personal insurance lines. Prudential said it agreed to sell the national line to Liberty for a loss of $149 million compared with book value. Newark, N.J.

In a deal that will make it the second-largest workers' compensation insurer in California, Boston-based Liberty Mutual agreed Friday to acquire troubled Golden Eagle Insurance of San Diego for at least $420 million in a court-supervised auction. Liberty Mutual, which says it is the largest workers' comp insurer in the United States, will close on the purchase within 60 to 90 days but will start to take control of the 1,300-employee company next week.

American International Group Inc. asked a California appeals court to reverse a lower court decision awarding the right to buy a financially troubled workers' compensation insurer to a rival company. New York-based AIG, ranked by A.M. Best Co. as the fourth-largest provider of U.S. property and casualty insurance, in April agreed to pay more than $1 billion for Golden Eagle Insurance Co., California's third-biggest workers' compensation insurer.

Elevating its highly public dispute with the nation's largest insurance company, the state Department of Insurance on Friday accused American International Group of making "false statements" and attempting to scuttle the takeover of Golden Eagle Insurance by Liberty Mutual.

Liberty Mutual Equity Co. said it completed its purchase of Golden Eagle Insurance Co., ending a legal battle with rival American International Group Inc. for the financially troubled writer of workers' compensation insurance. Boston-based Liberty Mutual, the biggest U.S. workers' compensation insurer, said it will use Golden Eagle's $1.2 billion in assets to give it a leg up in California, the largest state market for such insurance. It renamed the company Golden Eagle Insurance Corp.

Liberty Mutual Group, the eighth-largest U.S. property casualty insurer, agreed to buy Summit Holding Southeast Inc. for $222.4 million, building its workers' compensation insurance business in Florida. Summit, based in Lakeland, Fla., will add its 7% share of the Florida workers' compensation market to Liberty Mutual, the largest U.S. provider of such coverage. The transaction will give Summit's owners $33 for each of their 5.8 million shares, while redeeming Summit's 1.

PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. and a major insurance company in Boston signed a deal that they said Tuesday would save employers money by allowing them to send injured workers to a health maintenance organization for the first time. Liberty Mutual Insurance Group said it believes this is the first time a workers' compensation insurer has teamed with an HMO in this type of arrangement.