Hartford's P&C Business for Sale?

The shuffling continues in the insurance industry, as AIG's announcement of the sale of 21st Century Insurance to Zurich/Farmers was followed up by rumors that Hartford Financial Services was putting its property casualty insurance companies on the block.

If the rumor comes to fruition, then this would be a much larger deal than the sale of 21st Century. Hartford's P&C business has over $6 billion of capital, and it sells home, auto and commercial insurance. The auto and home insurance business is perhaps best known as the company behind the highly successful AARP affinity program.

The Hartford has been struggling lately, although the source of its problems have come from the life and annuity side of the house, not P&C. Should Hartford get anywhere near $7 billion, it would go a long way toward filling the uncomfortably large hole in the life business's balance sheet.

There aren't many companies that are big enough to swallow this business, so the suitors would be limited to companies like Travelers, Allianz (which owns Fireman's Fund) or Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (which owns Geico), among others. Stay tuned.