HCC PLEDGES $100K TO DISASTER FUND

Houston-based HCC Insurance Holdings Inc. pledged a $100,000 contribution to the families of policemen and firefighters killed in the line of duty as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., and encouraged the company’s peers to do the same. HCC said it has no insurance commitments with American or United Airlines but has a small participation in property insurance coverage of the World Trade Center and some of the surrounding buildings. HCC anticipates some claims from its medical stop-loss business in the New York City area and it has some exposure from its accident & health and workers’ compensation reinsurance account. It expects the net loss to be confined to an amount less than one third of the company’s quarter earnings. HCC asserted that the loss will have no impact on its capital or the strength of its insurance operations. In mid-September, HCC’s Board of Directors authorized a stock repurchase program through which the company may repurchase up to 3.0 million shares or 5.1 percent of its issued and outstanding common stock. HCC said that under the program, shares could be repurchased at various prices in the open market or through private transactions.