Hartford Financial Services Group Inc (HIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a property and casualty insurer beset by worries about capital levels, said on Friday it agreed to buy a small savings and loan, making it eligible to raise up to $3.4 billion from the U.S. government’s bank bailout plan. An infusion may alleviate investor concerns about capital at Hartford, which suffered a $2.63 billion third-quarter loss, and last month raised $2.5 billion from German insurer Allianz SE (ALVG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). Shares of Hartford soared 20.9 percent on Friday, closing up $2.19 at $12.65 on the New York Stock Exchange. Hartford said it agreed to buy Sanford, Florida-based Federal Trust Corp, which operates the 11-branch thrift Federal Trust Bank, for $10 million.
One of the companies I follow. This looked like a rock solid company in September. Look at its price chart since then. The less I say about this company the better. Deep sh*t. Allianz invested about $2 billion in HIG in October. Now Allianz is in a deep sh*t with its losses on Dresdner Bank. All of a sudden the boring Life Insurance Industry (a dormant volacano) is looking to erupt viciously.