St Paul signs up 50 brokers after completion of Zenith acquisition

St Paul International has completed the acquisition of Zenith Commercial, signing up 50 brokers in the process.

Under the deal, which St Paul hopes will enable it to renew most of Zenith Commercial's £15m mid-market book, 85% of Zenith's branch-based workforce will be retained.

The former Zenith Commercial branches in Birmingham and St Albans have been retained, while the Maidstone branch has been relocated to St Paul's operational headquarters in Surrey to create a new branch serving the southern Home Counties.

Zenith Commercial's sales, underwriting and claims staff have also relocated to the Surrey office.

St Paul International CEO Martin Hudson said: "The deal has gone very smoothly and we are delighted to welcome a wealth of insurance talent to The St Paul.

"The opportunity to renew £15m of mid-market business will really kick-start the launch of our new product. We are also signing up about 50 new brokers from the Zenith Commercial agency base."

The St Paul Companies announced second-quarter 2003 net income of $214m (£132m), up from a second-quarter 2002 net loss of $223m (£137m). In its core specialty commercial operations, excluding Lloyd's, it posted a 25.2% rise in premiums. Including Lloyd's, its net written premiums for the sector increased by 8.2% to $1.21bn (£739m). But its combined ratio deteriorated to 96.6%, largely as a result of losses on surety bonds.