I have been an investor in publicly traded subsidiaries of mutual insurance companies since July 1996, when AUIC first acquired shares in MIGI. In 1998, AUIC was an investor in publicly traded Allied Group, Inc. (“GRP” on the NYSE), which was previously a subsidiary and later an affiliate of Allied Mutual Insurance Company of Des Moines, Iowa (“Allied Mutual”). On May 15, 1998, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company (“Nationwide Mutual”), a 4.9% shareholder of GRP announced atwo-step offer to merge with Allied Mutual followed by a $47 per share purchase of the remaining GRP shares not owned by Nationwide Mutual. The $47 offer represented a 69% premium to the market-closing price of the GRP shares prior to the announcement. On June 4, 1998, Definitive Agreements were announced, and on October 1, 1998, Allied Mutual merged into Nationwide Mutual, followed by the cash purchase of the remaining GRP shares not owned by Nationwide Mutual for $48.25 per share, a 74% premium prior to the May 15th offer announcement. This was a watershed moment for the publicly traded subsidiaries of mutual insurance companies.
After the Nationwide Mutual acquisition of the Allied companies closed, I individually purchased AUIC’s shares in MIGI, and then I bought additional shares in the market, eventually acquiring 20.23% of MIGI. I became MIGI’s largest shareholder after Meridian Mutual Insurance Company (“Meridian Mutual”), which owned 48.5%. (I refer to Meridian Mutual, MIGI, and their affiliated companies collectively as “Meridian”.) I then was the catalyst in 2000 when AUIC filed a Tender Offer (“TO”) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) to acquire the remainder of the MIGI shares not owned by me, which provided the opportunity for State Auto Mutual Insurance Company’s (“State Auto Mutual”) merger with Meridian Mutual, followed by State Auto Mutual’s purchase of MIGI’s publicly traded shares not owned by State Auto Mutual, a 4.9% owner. Norma J. Oman was the CEO of both Meridian Mutual and MIGI. AUIC and I also filed Form A Statements with the IN, MN and OH Departments of Insurance. My efforts helped to deliver the shares’ true value to MIGI’s publicly traded shareholders, with a 135% premium over the valuation of those shares prior to State Auto Mutual’s purchase.
After the State Auto Mutual acquisition of Meridian closed in June 2001, I purchased 2,000,000 shares of STFC and became the largest shareholder, with 5.1%, other than State Auto Mutual, which owned 67% of STFC. As a STFC shareholder, I was involved in several activist efforts, including a shareholder proposal and a TO filed with the SEC to acquire 8,000,000 of STFC’s 10,896,332 public shares not owned by State Auto Mutual and to deliver the shares’ true value to STFC’s publicly traded shareholders. I also filed an “acquisition of control” filing with the Ohio Securities Division and Form A Statements with the OH, IN, and MN Departments of Insurance. In 2004, I sold 1,000,000 STFC shares or 50% of my position to one of Carl Icahn’s companies, and then I sold the remaining 1,000,000 STFC shares during 2005 in the market.
On May 1, 2012, Nationwide Mutual merged with Harleysville Mutual Insurance Company (“Harleysville Mutual”), a Pennsylvania mutual property and casualty insurance company, which owned 53% of Harleysville Group, Inc., a Delaware business corporation trading on the NASDAQ as “HGIC”, followed by Nationwide Mutual’s purchase of HGIC’s publicly traded shares, Michael L. Browne was the CEO of both Harleysville Mutual and HGIC. This marked the third time that two mutuals had merged followed by thecash-out of the publicly traded shares and the second time that Nationwide Mutual had utilized this acquisition method, and the HGIC public shareholders received a 137% premium over the HGIC share price five business days preceding the announcement of the transactions.
After my involvement with STFC, in 2005 I began investing in Class A and Class B common shares of Donegal Insurance Group Inc. of Marietta, PA (“DGICA” and “DGICB” on the NASDAQ and collectively “Donegal”), a Delaware business corporation and a subsidiary of Donegal Mutual Insurance Company (“Donegal Mutual”), a Pennsylvania mutual property and casualty insurance company. Donald H. Nikolaus was the President and CEO of both Donegal Mutual and Donegal. The DGICA shares hadone-tenth of a vote per share and the DGICB shares, had one vote per share. As of March 1, 2013, Donegal had 20,050,649 DGICA Shares (with 2,005,064 votes) and 5,576,775 DGICB Shares (with 5,576,775 votes) outstanding, with total combined votes of the DGICA Shares and DGICB Shares of 7,581,839. Donegal Mutual owned 7,755,953 DGICA Shares (representing 38.7% of the outstanding DGICA Shares) with 775,595 votes and 4,217,039 DGICB Shares (representing 75.6% of the outstanding DGICB Shares) with 4,217,039 votes. By combining the DGICA and DGICB votes, Donegal Mutual had the authority to cast 4,992,634 or 65.9% of the 7,581,839 total combined votes.
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