Proformance Acquires Ohio Casualty of New Jersey Auto Insurance Customers

    FREEHOLD, N.J.--Dec. 19, 2001--Today, the Proformance Insurance Company, a New Jersey domiciled property-liability insurer, announced it had entered into a significant agreement with Ohio Casualty of New Jersey, Inc. (OCNJ), one of the member companies of the Ohio Casualty Group.
    The agreement calls for Proformance to accept the transfer of OCNJ's eligible private passenger automobile and associated "umbrella" personal liability policies written in the state of New Jersey. Further, Proformance will offer contracts to all of OCNJ's active and inactive New Jersey agents who service the transferred business. In addition, all OCNJ New Jersey based employees who currently handle these lines of business will be offered replacement jobs with Proformance. Lastly, the Ohio Casualty Insurance Company, will purchase 19.99% of the common stock of National Atlantic Holdings Corporation, parent of Proformance.
    James V. Gorman, Chairman & CEO of Proformance, said, "This is a great opportunity for insurance consumers in the state of New Jersey. Proformance was founded by New Jersey independent insurance agents to put the customer first. This transaction in partnership with the Ohio Casualty Group will strengthen and improve Proformance's future operations so that we may continue to be a stable and consistent personal insurance carrier. We welcome these 66,000 new policyholders, the Independent Agencies who represent them, and the OCNJ employees who serve these policyholders to our corporate family. New Jersey has been our home since our founding in 1994 and we are dedicated to providing quality personal insurance policies to New Jersey citizens both now and in the future."
    Headquartered in Freehold, New Jersey, Proformance specializes in comprehensive personal insurance products and commercial insurance programs for small to mid-size New Jersey businesses. It is the only agent-owned and operated insurance company in the state of New Jersey and one of the largest of its kind in the country.