Zurich Insurance Group

A group of U.S. and Swiss investors led by Zurich Insurance Group agreed to pay $2 billion for Kemper Corp., a year after the U.S. asset management and life insurer rejected a $2.4-billion hostile bid by General Electric Co. News of the deal drove Kemper's stock up $4.375, or nearly 11%, to $45.75 on the New York Stock Exchange. The price tag is also far below that offered by Conseco Inc. last year during a bidding war for the financial services company.

Microsoft Corp.'s primary insurer is seeking to bar the world's No. 1 software company from claiming coverage for the cost of defending a barrage of private antitrust lawsuits. In a suit filed last month in federal court in Washington, Zurich American Insurance Co., a unit of Switzerland's Zurich Allied, asked a federal judge to declare that its general-liability policy doesn't cover the legal expenses spawned by Microsoft's antitrust woes.

Switzerland's Zurich Insurance Co. Thursday agreed to pay $18.6 billion for the financial services portion of Britain's BAT Industries, including Los Angeles-based Farmers Insurance Group. The deal would create Europe's fourth-largest insurance company and the world's seventh-biggest money manager. It would bring Zurich's Kemper Investment unit and its Scudder, Stevens & Clark Inc.

Zurich Group, Switzerland's largest insurance company, said it had completed the formation of New York-based Scudder Kemper Investments Inc., an investment group with more than $200 billion in assets under management. Scudder Kemper Investments is the result of Zurich Group's acquisition in June of U.S. asset management and mutual fund company Scudder, Stevens & Clark in a deal worth about $2.4 billion.

Zurich Group, Switzerland's largest insurance company, said it had completed the formation of New York-based Scudder Kemper Investments Inc., an investment group with more than $200 billion in assets under management. Scudder Kemper Investments is the result of Zurich Group's acquisition in June of U.S. asset management and mutual fund company Scudder, Stevens & Clark in a deal worth about $2.4 billion.

Switzerland's biggest insurance company, Zurich Group, said that it agreed to buy New York-based Scudder, Stevens & Clark, the U.S. asset management and mutual fund company, in a deal worth about $2.4 billion. The transaction would combine Zurich Group's Chicago-based Zurich Kemper Investments Inc. unit, which has $80 billion in assets under management, with privately held Scudder's $120-billion mutual fund and asset management business.

Zurich Insurance Co., Switzerland's No. 1 insurer, said it's in talks with BAT Industries, a British tobacco and financial services group, to create a financial services company valued at $35.6 billion, as the consolidation in the industry continues. The company would bring together businesses including Zurich's Chicago-based Kemper Corp. and its New York-based money manager, Scudder, Stevens & Clark Inc., and BAT's financial services units, Farmers Insurance Group of the U.S.

Microsoft Corp.'s primary insurer is seeking to bar the world's No. 1 software company from claiming coverage for the cost of defending a barrage of private antitrust lawsuits. In a suit filed last month in federal court in Washington, Zurich American Insurance Co., a unit of Switzerland's Zurich Allied, asked a federal judge to declare that its general-liability policy doesn't cover the legal expenses spawned by Microsoft's antitrust woes.

SINGAPORE From Paris to Sao Paulo and Penang to Peoria, governments, financiers and company bigwigs are increasingly concerned that the final years of the 20th century could see a global credit crunch of unprecedented scale.

Nowhere is absorption of office space in Orange County more apparent than in the central sector, where a 42% increase was reported for 1987 over the previous year. This represents more than double the increase registered by the John Wayne Airport area during the same period, according to Coldwell Banker Commercial Real Estate Services spokesman. "Development in Orange County is definitely leaning toward its center," agreed Lucien Truhill, president of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce.

Switzerland's Zurich Insurance Co. Thursday agreed to pay $18.6 billion for the financial services portion of Britain's BAT Industries, including Los Angeles-based Farmers Insurance Group. The deal would create Europe's fourth-largest insurance company and the world's seventh-biggest money manager. It would bring Zurich's Kemper Investment unit and its Scudder, Stevens & Clark Inc.

Zurich Insurance Co., Switzerland's No. 1 insurer, said it's in talks with BAT Industries, a British tobacco and financial services group, to create a financial services company valued at $35.6 billion, as the consolidation in the industry continues. The company would bring together businesses including Zurich's Chicago-based Kemper Corp. and its New York-based money manager, Scudder, Stevens & Clark Inc., and BAT's financial services units, Farmers Insurance Group of the U.S.

Switzerland's biggest insurance company, Zurich Group, said that it agreed to buy New York-based Scudder, Stevens & Clark, the U.S. asset management and mutual fund company, in a deal worth about $2.4 billion. The transaction would combine Zurich Group's Chicago-based Zurich Kemper Investments Inc. unit, which has $80 billion in assets under management, with privately held Scudder's $120-billion mutual fund and asset management business.

A group of U.S. and Swiss investors led by Zurich Insurance Group agreed to pay $2 billion for Kemper Corp., a year after the U.S. asset management and life insurer rejected a $2.4-billion hostile bid by General Electric Co. News of the deal drove Kemper's stock up $4.375, or nearly 11%, to $45.75 on the New York Stock Exchange. The price tag is also far below that offered by Conseco Inc. last year during a bidding war for the financial services company.

Since incorporating in 1956, this has been the ultimate faceless postwar suburb. These days, nearly 74,000 people live in its townhomes and subdivisions 26 miles northwest of Chicago. Automobiles zip along major traffic corridors, and 65 shopping centers line its streets--among them, the 2.7 million square feet of the mighty Woodfield Mall. Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor, Sears, Circuit City, Target, Toys R Us . . . all present and accounted for.