B.a.t./Farmers Merge With Zurich Insurance Companies

LOS ANGELES - B.A.T. Industries PLC, parent of the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies, has merged with Zurich Insurance Company creating Zurich Financial Services Group, which becomes the third largest property-casualty insurance group in the United States and one of the largest in the world with gross premiums of $37.24 billion.Farmers has become more agressive in writing California workers' comp in recent months. It is following a strategy of writing both groups and specific lines.With opera