In this morning's announcement, Old Republic said it will not be assuming any liabilities incurred prior to any of its renewals. Other terms of the deal with Long Grove, Ill.-based Kemper, were not disclosed.

Old Republic said, based on a preliminary review of the book of business involved, that the book incorporates slightly more than 100 insureds and that gross premium volume before reinsurance cessions totals roughly $140 million on an annualized basis.

"That's what we've been able to get our arms around," Al Zucaro, the chairman and chief executive officer of Old Republic, confirming the $140 million figure and emphasizing that each account would be separately underwritten on an "account-by-account basis."

There is no assurance Old Republic will renew every one of the accounts, Mr. Zucaro said.

Beyond the description of the book as "large account" unbundled business, Mr. Zucaro said the accounts involved were companies with "significant balance sheets that can assume or retain" large amounts of risk. While he said that both account sizes and retentions varied, he described the business as relating to Fortune 1000 or Fortune 2000-type companies.

Jim Kellogg, president of Old Republic's property and liability insurance segment, described the Kemper book as a "good strategic fit" for Old Republic in a press statement, emphasizing Old Republic's commitment to the unbundled risk management area, and in large account risk management business, in particular.

A representative of Kemper told NU that total annual gross premiums for all of its large account business?bundled and unbundled?is roughly $900 million, or $400 million on a net basis.

Mr. Zucaro declined to disclose whether his company was looking to purchase any other books of business from Kemper.

In a statement released by Kemper, Chairman and CEO David B. Mathis said the transaction is "in keeping with Kemper's strategy to become a smaller, more profitable company, allowing us the opportunity to enhance our balance sheet and allocate capital and resources to support other lines of business."

Mr. Mathis added that Kemper had been an insurer in the large risk national account business for some time and the decision to exit was not an easy one.

He noted that Kemper will continue--through its NATLSCO operation--to provide claim, medical management and safety engineering services to all market segments.

Old Republic International Corporation currently has assets of approximately $8.4 billion and capitalization of $3.4 billion. Old Republic Insurance Company, its flagship property and liability insurance carrier, is rated "A-plus" by A.M. Best, "Aa2" by Moody's, and "double-A" by Standard & Poor's.

Kemper, which has been downgraded by several ratings agencies in recent weeks, separately announced on Monday that the cut-through agreement it negotiated with Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary National Indemnity Co. is now available to be added to applicable policies.

The Jan. 13 announcement said that Kemper had enhanced a previously-announced agreement by moving the effective date on applicable Kemper new, renewal and inforce policies from Jan. 1, 2003, to Dec. 23, 2002.

On Dec. 23, Kemper had first announced the cut-through, which would guarantee the payment of claims on certain Kemper policies, and the fact that it would repurchase Berkshire's minority equity investment in a Kemper subsidiary company for $125 million.

That announcement prompted a series of downgrades by rating agencies in late December.

A subsequent announcement about the changes in Kemper's senior management prompted another round of cuts?the most recent coming from New York-based S&P (to "double-B-plus" from "triple-B-minus") last Thursday afternoon.