(Bloomberg) — Berkshire Hathaway Inc. won the top financial-strength rating from A.M. Best Co. for a unit that plans to sell insurance directly to businesses over the Internet, paving the way for Chairman Warren Buffett to expand his company's insurance operations.
Berkshire Hathaway Direct Insurance Co. will initially focus on workers' compensation and business owners' package policies, A.M. Best said Thursday in a statement announcing that it had assigned the A++ grade to the company. Insurers typically require such ratings to begin operations.
Buffett, 85, has soured on the reinsurance business as more investors pile into the market, pushing down prices. That's forced him to find other ways to generate the premiums that he uses to make investments. In 2013, he hired a team of executives from American International Group Inc. to begin underwriting large, specialty risks for business. And he said earlier this year that he planned to begin sales of insurance over the Web to mid-size businesses.
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