Florida's Largest Physician Malpractice Insurer Announces Historic Merger.CORAL GABLES Coral Gables, city (1990 pop. 40,091), Miami-Dade co., SE Fla., SW of Miami; inc. 1925. Founded at the height of the Florida land boom, Coral Gables is a noted planned city, with tree-lined boulevards and Mediterranean-style buildings. , Fla.--(BW HealthWire)--Aug. 15, 1997--Physicians Protective Trust Fund (PPTF), established in 1975 and the leading medical malpractice Improper, unskilled, or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional. insurer of Florida physicians, signed an agreement today to merge with Physicians Insurance Co. of Michigan (PICOM), a physician medical malpractice insurance company. PICOM is a subsidiary of Professionals Insurance Co. Management Group (Professionals Group), a publicly traded holding company based in Michigan, which trades on the NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on national market under the ticker symbol Ticker Symbol An arrangement of characters (usually letters) representing a particular security listed on an exchange or otherwise traded publicly. When a company issues securities to the public marketplace, it selects an available ticker symbol for its securities which investors "PICM PICM Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians ." "This merger anticipates our members' needs in this rapidly changing healthcare environment and advances our most important objectives of continuing our long standing tradition of strong claims defense, maintaining physician influence within our company, and eliminating the risk of assessment for our members," said Steven L. Salman, PPTF's president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. . "This agreement between PPTF and PICOM is the largest merger to date among physician-sponsored malpractice insurers, creating a new insurance company that will set the standard for our industry as it consolidates through further mergers and acquisitions." This merger is the largest of its kind among physician-sponsored medical malpractice carriers and creates an organization with over three quarters of a billion dollars in assets, more than $200 million in statutory surplus and 11,000 physician members/insureds, in eight states including Florida, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania (licenses are pending in four other states). "Our members will experience the benefits immediately," said Steven L. Salman, who will become president and CEO of the combined insurance company. "As part of a public company with greatly increased financial resources, we will be able to create economies of scale and have access to capital markets. As a result of the merger, PPTF members will experience the elimination of assessability, improved products and services, expanded coverage through new lines of insurance and an opportunity to take an equity position in the parent company (Professionals Group). Additionally, upon closing, Dr. Eliot Berg, PPTF's chairman of the board, will become chairman of the combined insurance company and PPTF members will represent the majority of the shareholders in Professionals Group, the parent company of PICOM." This merger creates a company -- almost twice as large as PPTF -- with sufficient financial resources, member size, and geographic locations to offer a broad range of products and services to physician groups and all types of health care delivery organizations. This merger also enhances PPTF's ability to serve individual and small physician groups because they will be able to take advantage of products and services previously available only to large groups and organizations. PPTF's offices will remain in Coral Gables and the same dedicated staff will continue to serve Florida's physicians. Likewise, PICOM's offices and staff will also remain intact. Neither company is expected to reduce its staff due to the merger; the expanded products and services as well as the broader geographic range may lead to an increase in staffing. -0- Editors note: Physicians Protective Trust Fund (PPTF) is Florida's largest medical malpractice insurer and has been providing coverage to Florida physicians for more than 20 years. PPTF is based in Coral Gables. PICOM Insurance Co. was formed in June 1980 following privatization privatization: see nationalization. privatization Transfer of government services or assets to the private sector. State-owned assets may be sold to private owners, or statutory restrictions on competition between privately and publicly owned of Michigan's Brown McNeely Fund, the state's response to the 1975 medical malpractice crisis. In 1982, PICOM's physician shareholders were permitted to sell their shares in the over-the-counter market over-the-counter market Trading in stocks and bonds that does not take place on stock exchanges. Such trading occurs most often in the U.S., where requirements for listing stocks on the exchanges are strict. and in 1993 PICOM joined the NASDAQ market (PICM). In 1996 PICOM was reorganized re·or·gan·ize v. re·or·gan·ized, re·or·gan·iz·ing, re·or·gan·iz·es v.tr. To organize again or anew. v.intr. To undergo or effect changes in organization. into an insurance holding company system under the name Professionals Insurance Co. Management Group. For more information, David Nixon David Nixon (29 December 1919 - 1 December 1978), was a British magician and television personality. At the height of his career, the balding Nixon was the best-known magician in the UK, but he had several other strings to his bow. at Zynyx Marketing Communications Marketing communications (or marcom) are messages and related media used to communicate with a market. Those who practice advertising, branding, direct marketing, graphic design, marketing, packaging, promotion, publicity, sponsorship, public relations, sales, sales 305/672-4422. CONTACT: Zynyx Marketing Communications Tammy Rubin, 305/672-4422 |
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