Zurich expands its Mergers & Acquisitions operation with the opening of its London Office

Zurich, April 23, 2008 – Zurich Financial Services Group (Zurich) announced today that Zurich Global Corporate’s Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) unit has expanded its operation through the opening of an office in London. As announced on July 18, 2007, Zurich Global Corporate has established a dedicated M&A unit to analyze needs and offer customized solutions for customers going through a merger or acquisition or divestiture.

Thomas L. Gamble, president of Global Corporate’s M&A unit, said: “We now have a fully operational M&A and private equity team in London, with a broad capability to deliver global and local M&A insurance solutions utilising Zurich’s global network.  The London office is led by a management team with M&A industry specialists on board. Zurich is now in a strengthened position to deliver a broad spectrum of tailored insurance products and risk management solutions that meet our customers and brokers M&A and private equity transactional needs.”

The risk services offered by Zurich’s M&A experts and product specialists are enhanced by a global network, an extensive product breadth and a commitment to customer relationship management allowing Zurich to both deliver relevant risk insights for every step in the M&A transaction and provide customers with answers to risk issues which may otherwise hinder deal completion.

Mario Vitale, CEO, Zurich Global Corporate in North America said: "With the creation of the unit, Zurich is the only insurer to offer a fully integrated and fully dedicated team of professionals with expertise in a broad range of insurance products and all aspects of the M&A process."  
The total value of M&A deals in 2006 and 2007 reached an all-time high of approximately USD 4 trillion and USD 4.9 trillion respectively. Year to date global M&A activity has totalled USD 861.2 billion, with an increase of activity in Asia and other markets.* Although the size and volume of transactions has diminished in the US and UK, Zurich's M&A unit is poised to continue to deliver tailored risk solutions that meet M&A, divestiture and private equity transactional requirements. Demonstrating its commitment to capturing a significant share of the insurance activity, Zurich's M&A unit will be dedicating resources to serve Asia, the Middle East as well as Latin America towards the end of this year.